About your scan (PET/CT appointment)
This section provides information about your scan and how to prepare for it. Please use the menu below to find the information you need.
During your procedure
What happens on the day of the scan?
You should arrive 15 minutes before your scan appointment time.
If you realise that you will be late or unable to attend the unit please contact the Patient Referral Centre: 0845 600 2953.
After you have been greeted at reception, a member of staff will explain the procedure.
Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the PET/CT scan at this point. A member of staff will then take a short medical history from you to assist the doctor who reads the scan.
The Radiographer or Nuclear Medicine Technologist will then inject a small amount of 18FDG (low-dose radioactive form of glucose) into a vein in your arm. This is a colourless liquid used in the scan.
You will then rest for approximately 1 hour prior to your scan. During this rest period you will asked not to talk, as this can affect the distribution of the tracer. Depending on the the type of scan your doctor has requested, you may be able to read or listen to music during this period so please bring a book or personal music device with you. The rest period is to allow the body time to take up the injection and is important.
You will then be asked to visit the toilet to empty your bladder prior to your scan. This is to ensure the bladder is empty and gives a good view of the pelvic region. Following this you will be taken through for your scan, which will last approximately 30 minutes. For the scan you will be asked to lie flat on a narrow scanning table.
You will then be free to leave the PET/CT unit.
What precautions do I need to take after the scan?
Please avoid prolonged close contact with children and pregnant women for 6 hours after the scan.
How much radiation do I receive from the scan?
The equivalent to a period of a few years natural background radiation for each part of the scan (PET and CT scans). The radiation injected for the scan fades over time, with most of it decaying in the first 6 hours. The radiation has a very short physical half-life (the time taken to reduce the radioactivity by half).