Glossary Term:

Title

PET scan or positron emission tomography

Phonetic

<b>pahs</b>-uh-trahn ee-<b>mish</b>-uhn tom-<b>ahg</b>-ruh-fee

Description

An imaging test that uses radioactive sugar to look for cancer cells in the body. Since cancer cells are more likely to take up larger amounts of sugar than normal cells, the test may be able to identify cancer versus normal cells. PET scans may be used to find tumors or see how well a tumor is responding to treatment.