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PET Scan Analysis

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Given that the growth in the medical industry has expanded substantially enabling different machines to view different aspects of the human anatomy, it is impossible to recommend what scan a person should have without taking into consideration the illness/injury and history of the patient. Without doubt a PET scan should be avoided as much as possible as the radiation the patient is confronted with is equivalent to 8 years of everyday living and substantially larger than other methods of imaging however, the advantage of a PET scan is its ability to show how parts of the body are functioning and detect problems much earlier (NSP Medicine Wise, 2010). Whilst this may be seen as a great advantage, the PET scan is far more dangerous to the human body than any other method of imaging as the gamma rays penetrate structural components of cells and break DNA of biological molecules with the potential to cause mutations and cancer (K. Henderickson, 2014). CT scans can only image half the aspects of the human anatomy as the PET scan yet only project three …show more content…
This is able to be imaged due to the slightly higher frequency x-rays and the 360⁰ of camera viewing. This method of imaging is particularly useful as the radiation dosage is not extremely large and the scan is able to take slices, giving a detailed size of the abnormal growth. In cases where visibility needs to be exact, a contrast medium can be swallowed/injected. This dye is usually either barium or iodine. Particular materials of certain atomic numbers interact with radiation is predictable ways. Barium is very similar to calcium in terms atomic makeup and looks dense on an x-ray. When barium id introduced to the digestive tract, an outline of the organs is identified. Iodine differs as it is not as dense and can be used intravenously as the contrast does not over shadow the

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