Introduction
PET/CT is not only a brand-new nuclear medicine imaging technology that has developed rapidly, but also useful for the diagnosis, assessment of disease, detection of recurrence, assessment of therapeutic results on colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, head and neck cancer, liver cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and thyroid cancer. It can provide lots of valuable information for the assessment on neurology and activity of cardiac muscle. Thereafter, PET/CT has become one of the most superior medical diagnostic tools in this century，especially on clinical oncology.

In the light of spirit for advancing the medical service and academic research, we introduce the first cyclotron in south Taiwan. Technologically cooperate with the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research possessed abundant experiences on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to produce PET drugs. We bring in the first PET/CT (Biograph 6 PET/CT) developed newly by Siemens Instrument, German in October, 2004. For better diagnostic efficiency, this new type instrument is not only combined with PET and CT to be a PET/CT, but also adopted new LSO crystal to provide better resolution and faster imaging speed.

We integrate clinical staffers in every department and section into a strong medical team, and combine excellent examination environment for providing the most precise diagnostic result and best service quality to examinees.

Malignancy
According to the latest cancer survey conducted by Department of Health, malignancy is the first one of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan. You can not look down on cancer, because it has become the most serious health killer.

CT image	PET image	PET/CT image

This case is a patient with breast cancer. The lymph node metastasis in anterior mediastinum is diagnosed by PET/CT image with combination of the advantages on PET and CT.

The earlier discover, the earlier treatment
The cure rate of cancer is very high in the early stage, so the best way to diagnose cancer is regular examination for discovering and treating early. For the malignancy which growth and spread quickly, PET/CT can detect the smallest focus that other imaging technologies can not detect to help physician diagnose and treat early.

PET does not only discover the lymph node metastasis in the abdomen, but also detect local recurrence of cervical cancer that CT can not detect in post-operative follow-up.

Introduction of PET/CT
Medical Imaging is a science that progress rapidly in the field of recent diagnostic medicine. In the field of nuclear medicine, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a brand-new imaging technology. With intravenous injection of positron-emitted radiotracer produced from Cyclotron, the distribution of radioactive tracer inside the body can be showed by PET/CT. The tracers used in PET/CT belong to internal metabolites or nuclide markers of their derivatives, and their distribution inside the body can provide the information about in vivo physiological and biochemical activities. Due to the changes of physiology and biochemistry is prior to the changes of anatomy in the early phase of most human disease, so PET/CT can precisely provide information on this aspect. Examinees will not be harmed in this process, so the capability of “the earlier diagnosis, the earlier treatment” can be achieved. PET/CT introduced by our hospital can not only diagnose early the functional foci, but also combine the excellent focus position capability of CT. The functional image and correct position of foci can be clearly provided for physicians to conduct subsequently medical treatment.

The theorem of PET/CT
Generally, cancer cells with prompt division and vigorous metabolism consume more glucose to be the energy of division, so there are much more glucose will be aggregated at cancer tissues with more vigorous metabolism. With the theorem, PET (Positron Emission Tomography), a brand-new and high technological medical image examination, inject fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) contains micro amount of positron into the body through the vein. After FDG arrive internal tissue organ through the blood circulation, it will excite γ ray by the annihilation of positron and electron. The existence of γ ray will be detected by PET, and compose the whole body image by computer calculation. Then, the cancer cells with vigorous metabolism can be observed by professional physician with the cooperation of excellent position capability on CT. For clinical physicians, the result can be regard as the basis of treatment.

Clinical applications
Tumors: include the diagnosis, assessment of disease phase, detection of recurrence, and assessment of therapeutic result on colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and thyroid cancer.
Cardiac diseases: diagnosis coronary heart disease, assess the viability of cardiac muscle and the feasibility for receiving angioplasty or bypass surgery, and appraise the prognosis of cardiac functions.
Neurological diseases: diagnosis of epileptic foci, Parkinson’s disease, differential diagnosis of dementia, and diagnosis and functional assessment of cerebral stroke.

Service characteristics
Specialists with abundant experiences of inspection and strong medical service team
The inspection of specialist in the department of nuclear medicine
Dr. Hue-Yong Chen
(Senior specialist in the department of nuclear medicine, incumbent director in the department of nuclear medicine)
Dr. Yi-Chen Wu
(Specialist in the department of nuclear medicine, incumbent attending physician in the department of nuclear medicine)
The inspection of specialists in the diagnostic radiology department
Sensor physicians in diagnostic radiology department help to inspect and consult specialists in every sub-specialty.
Medical radiation technologist, medical technologist, nurse, pharmacist, clerk, service engineer and special radiation protection personnel

Excellent service in whole examination
Specialized VIP arrangement of examination
Meal service after the end of examination
Free parking on the day of examination (in our exclusive parking lot)
Provide one set of health examination suit

Equipped with delicate facilities
I.PET/CT
Biograph 6 PET/CT equipped with faster imaging speed and better image resolution is the first one that developed newly by Siemens Instrument, German.

II.Manufacturing center of positron tomography tracers
First cyclotron manufacturing center at south Taiwan:
With one cyclotron (model: G. E PET trace), three sets of hot cells, two sets of pharmaceutical synthesizers, two sets of automatic drug packers, and a whole set of quality control instruments, it can stably provide positron emisson tracers that match cGMP standard in Department of Health. So, the tracers are provided safely.

cyclotron	hot cells and synthesizer
hot cell and multiple-dose automatic drug packers	hot cell and single-dose automatic drug packer

Radiation dose of PET/CT scan
Radiation dose of whole-body PET/CT scan comes from:
1.Whole-body CT scan is about 1.87 mSv.
2.Whole-body PET scan is about 8.1 mSv, so the total radiation dose is 9.97 mSv.
Radiation dose received from general diagnostic CT scan is:

◇	Brain CT scan	2mSv
◇	Chest CT scan	8mSv
◇	Abdominal CT scan	10mSv
◇	Pelvic CT scan	10mSv

Radiation dose of whole-body PET/CT scan equals to the radiation dose of a single diagnostic abdominal CT scan. Because cancer can be detected early by whole-body PET/CT, the radiation dose is reasonable.

Illustration: mSv represents the unit of radiation exposure dose equivalent.

Location
PET/CT Center, the 1st floor of Building C, E-Da Hospital

Pre-examination instructions
1. Fast for 12 hours before the examination <but you can drink water.>
2. Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers or unconscious patients are inappropriate for the examination.
3. Medicine for chronic diseases can be normally taken. Diabetes medicine should be discontinued because long-time fasting may cause hypoglycemia.
4. Examinees should not do strenuous exercise or stay up on the day before examination.
5. Female examinees should avoid taking the examination during menstrual period.
6. Valuables such as golden ornament articles <necklace, bracelet or hand chain> should be left at home or removed prior to the examination. Please keep pleasant and quiet mood for examination since there is no discomfort during the procedure.
7. The tracer <FDG> for examination is especially prepared for you, and it is relatively expensive, so please check in on time. If you cannot come in time, please inform us before 2 o’clock in the afternoon before the examination.

Consultant hotline
+886-7-615-0953

Fax
+886-7-615-0961

Service hours
08:00~17:00 on Monday to Friday; 08:00~12:00 on Saturday.

Examination procedures for PET/CT Check in ↓ Dress in the examination gown, measure height, weight, and blood pressure ↓ See the doctor ↓ Receive an I.V. line placement, blood drawing, blood sugar test, FDG tracer injection ↓ Rest for 60 minutes and urinate ↓ Receive PET/CT examination <about 25 minutes> ↓ End of examination ↓ Rest in the rest room and have a meal ↓ Receive an assessment by doctor Do not need to receive a delayed-phase scan Need to receive a delayed-phase scan ↓ ↓ End of examination (The entire procedure is about 2~3 hours) Arrange another examination at afternoon (about 30 minutes scan time)   ↓   End of examination (The entire procedure is about 4~6 hours) Non-invasive, functional, and structural high technological image examination can early detect the disease, and will not cause any discomfort during the examination.