St. John's Mercy Hospital PET Scanner

The Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scanner at St. John’s Mercy is a new technology that produces 3-D computer-reconstructed images for diagnosing and monitoring disease in a specific organ, tumor or other metabolically active site. The Advance PET system, from GE Medical Systems, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, is used in a number of clinical applications; primary among these are oncology, cardiology and neurology.

A PET scanner consists of an array of detectors that surround the patient. Before the scan, the patient receives a dose of tracer containing substances that mimic those normally used in the body, including water, sugars, proteins and oxygen. The tracer substance is designed to accumulate in diseased cells. Cancer cells have higher metabolic rates than normal cells and show up as denser areas on a PET scan. And because PET scanning highlights areas with increased, diminished or no metabolic activity, it is also designed to detect cardiovascular and neurological disease.

PET imaging is also a valuable tool for monitoring the progress of treatments, such as chemotherapy, and the recurrence of disease.

For more information or to inquire if PET scanning is right for you, please contact your physician or contact the Department of Nuclear Medicine at St. John’s Mercy Hospital at 636-239-8375.