Before your procedure

Before the scan you will be given an injection (usually in the arm) of a low-dose radioactive form of glucose tracer, which allows the measuring of the activity of cells in different parts of the body.

After a rest period of about an hour, a scan is then carried out which is painless and usually takes about 30 minutes. The scan is a sophisticated type of X-Ray that creates a three-dimensional picture of the inside of the body. The images taken produce a detailed picture of the internal anatomy and function. These images will allow your doctor to plan any treatment required more accurately.

The scan procedure takes approximately 2 hours.

What to eat
You should not eat for 6 hours prior to your scan appointment time.

You should not eat or drink meal supplements or liquid food for 6 hours prior to your appointment time.

Prior to your appointment you should drink plenty of plain water, but please avoid water which is flavoured or diluted with cordial.

Please continue to take your usual medication on the day of the scan including pain killers. Bring your medication with you should it coincide with your scan time.

If you are a diabetic patient, please make sure that the Patient Referral Centre is aware of this at booking. You will receive special instructions for your scan. Please make sure that you follow the advice given or you might not be able to have the scan.

Please avoid strenuous physical activity for 24 hours before the scan e.g. Horse riding, exercising in the gym.

What to wear
Please leave all jewellery at home and wear comfortable clothes that contain little metal, a tracksuit is ideal.

Some patients feel cold on the units even on a warm day, so please bring warm clothes, such as a fleece or a jumper to wear.

You will not normally change in to a gown for the scan and will remain in your clothes, female patients will be asked to remove their bra just prior to scan.

Important information you need to know about the PET/CT unit
You cannot bring friends or relatives to the mobile PET/CT unit. Friends and relatives who accompany you to the unit, will have to wait outside the unit, but will be advised when you are ready to leave. This is because of the limited space available on a mobile unit.

Please do not bring children or pregnant friends, because the PET/CT scan uses radiation.

If you are pregnant or think that you might be pregnant or you are breast feeding, please contact the Patient Referral Centre Tel: 0845 600 2953.

The 18FDG (the radioactive form of glucose) tracer has a very short half-life and therefore can not be kept in stock. Production of every dose occurs on the morning of the scan. The manufacturing process is extremely complex and subsequently, on rare occasions, the production may be unsuccessful or of low yield with the consequence that we will have to cancel your appointment. Such incidents are unfortunately out of our control and whilst we will always do our best to honour your appointment, inevitably there will be occasions when this is not possible. In the event of this occurring, we will endeavour to inform you of the cancellation as soon as possible, but this would normally be on the same day as the scan. We will of course issue you with the next available appointment date that is convenient to you.