Weirton Medical Center Offers PET/CT Scans

Weirton Medical Center began offering PET/CT scans in January with a new, PET/CT system (positron emission tomography combined with a computer-assisted tomography), which offers early and highly accurate detection of cancer.

PET/CT is an imaging procedure that provides physicians with information about the body’s chemistry, cell function and exact location of disease. The precise images obtained with PET/CT are not available with other technologies, such as X-ray, MRI, or CT alone. The difference lies in the ability of the PET/CT equipment to combine or “fuse” the images of the PET scanner (metabolic function of cells) with the CT scanner (anatomic location of body structures) into one extremely detailed image.

This combination of the metabolic information from PET and the anatomic information from CT, places PET/CT at the forefront of cutting edge technology allowing physicians to more accurately stage and treat patient disease processes.

For oncology patients, PET/CT is used to determine the exact location and stage of cancerous tissue and can prevent unnecessary surgery and biopsies and inappropriate treatments.

“PET/CT will have a major impact on our clinical evaluations of cancer patients, and in many cases will enable physicians to begin treatment earlier and increase the odds for successful patient outcomes,” said Joseph P. Endrich, M.D., president and chief executive officer of the Weirton Medical Center.

Weirton Medical Center began offering the new service on Jan. 8, 2010. A physician’s order is required for PET/CT scans.