Community Radiology Associates has expanded its services with a second location in Frederick! Frederick North Imaging Center, located just down the street at 46 Thomas Johnson Drive, offers PET/CT, as well as nuclear medicine.

PET/CT, which has been shown effective for detecting and monitoring cancers, assessing heart disease and pinpointing neurological disorders, combines two advanced imaging techniques in one machine. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) assesses cell metabolism while CT can pinpoint the size, location and extent of lesions. Patients receive a radiopharmaceutical called FDG that is similar to glucose (sugar). As cancer cells take up more FDG than normal cells, the PET scan helps radiologists determine whether a lesion is cancerous. PET/CT combines this data with CT’s anatomic images to detect tiny malignancies, providing faster and more accurate information for doctors.

PET/CT’s use in cancer detection and monitoring has been growing. A national review of more than 40,000 PET and PET/CT studies showed that this technology changed doctors’ management of cancer patients 37% of the time.
 
PET/CT:

This technology also is valuable in other medical areas, such as diagnosing dementias at an earlier stage or detecting heart problems.  Doctors can examine blood flow to the heart muscle and view plaque and blockages in one sitting.  Another application for PET/CT is evaluating inflammation and infection of bones and soft tissues.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (888) 601-0943.