What should I bring?
- Documentation: Bring along your ID and medical aid card (if you are a member). Bring all previous scan reports if you have copies.
- Bring all CDs / DVDs with images on or hard copy films from previous scans.
- Bring comfortable clothing like a track suit if you want to.
- Bring a list of the chronic medications you are on.
- Bring along any pain relief medication or stress-related medication if you are using any.
- You may eat as soon as the scan is completed, so you are welcome to bring a beverage or food for eating afterwards.
What will happen during the PET/CT investigation?
You report to reception on arrival.
If you are a new patient, you will need to complete a patient information form. If you are a follow-up patient, you will be asked to verify your patient information form and correct any change of address or other change in personal detail. On each visit you will need to complete a patient questionnaire; with questions related to your current diagnosis, treatment and other medical conditions. This is essential information for us to report your scan optimally.
F-18 FDG specific procedure:
- We will weigh you, this is used in the calculation of your dose.
- The PET/CT staff will place a small intravenous line for administration of the radioactivity.
- Your blood pressure, pulse and blood sugar level will be tested. If all of these are within acceptable levels, we will continue with the investigation.
- We may ask you to take a tablet called propranolol/Indoblok before we start, this is given to improve our image quality. Not all patients will receive it and will be decided by the attending doctor.
- We will then administer the radioactive sugar. The injection does not have any physical effects (such as headache/sleepiness etc.) or side effects other than radiation exposure.
- After this injection you must wait for 60 minutes for it to be taken up into all the cells of the body.
- You will be placed in a special waiting room with other patients.
We want you to be comfortable while waiting and have magazines available. You may listen to music on your phone/Ipod/other devices with earphones. There is water and a toilet in the waiting room. Once you are injected you are not allowed to leave the waiting room. No pregnant females or children are allowed in the waiting room with you. If you need assistance your caregiver may stay with you. - When the waiting period has passed, you will be asked to empty your bladder.
- The radiographer will check that you are correctly dressed and will position you on the scanning bed in an as comfortable position as possible for the scan.
- The scan takes approximately 15 – 25 minutes depending on varying factors. You must lie still during the entire investigation to ensure satisfactory quality images.
- When all the images have been acquired, one of our staff members will help you off the bed. You can then return to the waiting room and you may now have something to eat or drink.
Ga-68 DOTA and Ga-68 PSMA specific procedure:
- The PET/CT staff will place a small intravenous line for administration of the radioactivity.
- We will then administer the radioactivity. The injection does not have any physical effects (such as headache/sleepiness etc.) or side effects other than radiation exposure.
- After this injection you must wait 60 minutes for it to be taken up into all the cells of the body.
- You will be placed in a special waiting room with other patients.
We want you to be comfortable while waiting and have magazines available. You may listen to music on your phone/Ipod/other devices with earphones. There is water and a toilet in the waiting room. Once you are injected you are not allowed to leave the waiting room. No pregnant females or children are allowed in the waiting room with you. If you need assistance your caregiver may stay with you. - When the waiting period has passed, you will be asked to empty your bladder.
- The radiographer will check that you are correctly dressed and will position you on the scanning bed in an as comfortable position as possible for the scan.
- The scan takes approximately 15 – 25 minutes depending on varying factors. You must lie still during the entire investigation to ensure satisfactory quality images.
- When all the images have been acquired, one of our staff members will help you off the bed. You can then return to the waiting room.
F-18 PSMA specific procedure:
- The PET/CT staff will place a small intravenous line for administration of the radioactivity.
- We will then administer the radioactivity. The injection does not have any physical effects (such as headache/sleepiness etc.) or side effects other than radiation exposure.
- After this injection you must wait 90 - 120 minutes for it to be taken up into all the cells of the body.
- You will be placed in a special waiting room with other patients.
We want you to be comfortable while waiting and have magazines available. You may listen to music on your phone/Ipod/other devices with earphones. There is water and a toilet in the waiting room. Once you are injected you are not allowed to leave the waiting room. No pregnant females or children are allowed in the waiting room with you. If you need assistance your caregiver may stay with you. - When the waiting period has passed, you will be asked to empty your bladder.
- The radiographer will check that you are correctly dressed and will position you on the scanning bed in an as comfortable position as possible for the scan.
- The scan takes approximately 15 – 25 minutes depending on varying factors. You must lie still during the entire investigation to ensure satisfactory quality images.
- When all the images have been acquired, one of our staff members will help you off the bed. You can then return to the waiting room.
F-18 FDOPA specific procedure:
- The PET/CT staff will place a small intravenous line for administration of the radioactivity.
- We will then administer the radioactivity. The injection does not have any physical effects (such as headache/sleepiness etc.) or side effects other than radiation exposure.
- After this injection you must wait a period of time depending on your pathology:
- Oncology: We image brain tumours at ± 10 minutes and phaechromocytoma at ± 60 minutes after injection. For insulinomas, imaging is acquired at 5-minutes and sometimes 30-minutes after injection.
- Movement disorders: We image at ± 90 minutes after injection.
- You will be placed in a special waiting room with other patients.
- We want you to be comfortable while waiting and have magazines available. You may listen to music on your phone/Ipod/other devices with earphones. There is water and a toilet in the waiting room. Once you are injected you are not allowed to leave the waiting room. No pregnant females or children are allowed in the waiting room with you. If you need assistance your caregiver may stay with you.
- When the waiting period has passed, you will be asked to empty your bladder.
- The radiographer will check that you are correctly dressed and will position you on the scanning bed in an as comfortable position as possible for the scan.
- The scan takes approximately 15 – 25 minutes depending on varying factors. You must lie still during the entire investigation to ensure satisfactory quality images.
- When all the images have been acquired, one of our staff members will help you off the bed. You can then return to the waiting room and you may now have something to eat or drink.
Please note
Results will not be discussed with you after the scan, please do not put pressure on the staff at the PET/CT centre to discuss these findings. A PET/CT study is a complicated and intricate imaging modality that requires two imaging specialists to evaluate the scan – nuclear physician and radiologist. The role of the radiographer is only to check the image quality and see whether there has been any movement by the patient which may influence this. Radiographers cannot give you any indication of what the scan results may be. Reporting will be completed by the next working day at ± 12h00 midday and the report will be sent directly to your referring doctor. Your referring doctor will discuss the results with you on your follow-up appointment.
We inject the radiopharmaceutical intravenously : if you have a chemotherapy port and would like the staff at the PET/CT centre to use the port for the injection - please arrange with your chemotherapy sister / doctor to have it accessed PRIOR to your visit to our centre, as we do not have the necessary equipment for it to be accessed here. Please also inform us before your investigation should this be your request, so we can also ensure that your referring doctor is in agreement that we may use the port for the injection.
Please also inform us should you have severe claustrophobia, a needle phobia or other problems which may need to be addressed prior to your visit.
The radiopharmaceuticals (injection) that is used for the PET/CT scans has very short half lifes*. The radiopharmaceutical is prepared early in the morning of the study (F-18) or shortly before the investigation takes place (Ga-68). If there are any problems with the production procedure / quality control tests or even the delivery we may have to cancel, postpone or delay the study at short notice. Although we take all the necessary steps to prevent this as far as possible, it is completely out of our control as we order this from external suppliers.
* The half-life of the radioactivity is the time is takes for the radioactivity tho reduce to half of its original value for example : if we start with 100MBq ** of F-18 FDG / PSMA / DOPA after 110 minutes we will only have 50 Mbq, another 110minutes 25 MBq and so forth). For the Ga-68 PSMA and DOTATATE, the half life is even shorter at only 68 minutes. It is therefore also important to please let us know if you are running late for your appointment.
**MBq is the unit in which radioactivity is measured.
Reporting will be completed by the next working day at ± 12h00 midday and the report will be sent directly to your referring doctor.
Your referring doctor will discuss the results with you on your follow-up appointment.
How long will I be at the PET centre?
- It is very difficult to predict the exact time you will spend with us. Many factors need to be considered when calculating how long it takes, these include:
- External factors: Amount of traffic during delivery of the radiopharmaceutical as fresh doses are manufactured elsewhere and delivered daily, technical or hardware difficulties that are beyond our control - we do have an excellent team on standby for assistance should this happen.
- Patient factors: If we struggle to find a suitable vein for injection, a very sick patient, if a patient suffers from claustrophobia or anxiety.
- It is advisable that you do not make any other appointments on the same day as the PET/CT scan.
- Although we give you a time for arrival this is just an estimate, we do try to stick to this, but please be patient if we are unable to do so. It would be best if you are not in a hurry and bring along some entertainment.
- We aim to take about 2 – 2.5 hours from time of injection until you are dressed and ready to go home.