A PET scan (positron emission tomography) is imaging tests that can help reveal how your tissues and organs are functioning. To show this chemical activity, a small amount of radioactive material must enter your body. The precise type of radioactive material, and its delivery method, depends on which organ or tissue is being studied by the PET scan. The radioactive material may be injected into a vein, inhaled or swallowed. A PET scan is useful in evaluating a variety of conditions — including neurological problems, heart disease and cancer.
Recent researches confirmed that a PET scan can show the brain’s biological changes attributable to Alzheimer’s disease before any other diagnostic test with significant degree of the results reliability. Alzheimer’s disease can even be detected several years earlier than the onset of symptoms. Early detection and confirmation of Alzheimer’s disease allows for:
- Early drug therapy to slow the loss of the patient’s ability to function.
- Future planning before loss of mental capacity.
- Positive and accurate diagnosis of other dementing processes, chronic depression and normal aging.
- Help in the discovery and development of new therapies.
Detecting Alzheimer’s Disease early gives patients extended quality time with loved ones.
UCLA researchers have found that PET scans enable physicians to diagnose Alzheimer’s before the symptoms set in, which gives patients options to help delay the progression of the disease.
Using PET to determine if patients have Alzheimer’s would correspond to a 65% decrease in avoidable months of nursing home care, and a 48% drop in unnecessary drug treatment, according to Dr. Daniel Silverman, assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology and associate director of imaging for the UCLA Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
“Even a 6-month difference in the date of detection can profoundly affect the progression of Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Michael E. Phelps, chair of the Department of Molecular Medical Pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
PET scans offer Alzheimer’s patients HOPE.
