PET/CT Scans [Matt Hoover]

Video Transcript

My name is Matt Hoover. I work with DMS Health Technologies. We're based out of Fargo, North Dakota and I'm the Senior Manager of Market Development. My background is as a nuclear medicine PET/CT Technologist.

PET/CT scan is a combination of two radiology modalities, PET scan and the CAT scan. So, we're all familiar with the CAT scan, the 3D, CT, the X-ray which shows structure. The PET scan stands for Positron Emission Tomography. And what that entails is we inject the patient with a radioactive material and they become radioactive and we're able to see function from the cells within the patient's body and we detect those. So, what we do is we combine the PET scan and the CAT scan together, and we're able to see function and structure all in one and pinpoint exactly what's going on and where it's going on.

PET/CT scans benefit patients by providing physicians the information much earlier than they would with other traditional imaging modalities such as CTs, MRIs, that sort of thing. They do that by allowing us to see the function down on that cellular level much earlier before the structural changes occur. It's used in oncology diagnoses across the board and from initial staging to after treatment, it's a very important tool.

So, outside of the world of oncology, PET scans also benefit patients and providers by allowing us to find information regarding Alzheimer's versus Frontotemporal Dementia. It also helps with epileptic patients, pre-surgical planning for those, and also cardiac imaging as well, cardiac viability.

The mobile PET-CT unit brings a world-class technology to Brookings here. It allows the patients to have it in the comfort of their own town versus having to travel quite some distance to another location. And that also allows them to stay within their own facility and network as well, closer to home and at more personalized treatment here at Brookings.