How is a PET scanner able to locate a tumour in the patient's body?

The patient is injected with a radioactive isotope with short half-life, for eg Fluorine-18. This isotope decays into positrons. The area damaged with tumour requires more blood supply compared to the healthy cells. Therefore higher concentration of the isotope is transported to the damaged area where the positrons from the isotope interact with naturally occurring electrons in the body to cause annihilation. This electron-positron annihilation leads to production of two gamma rays due to conservation of energy, which travel in opposite direction. These gamma rays are detected by the detectors in a ring around the patient. The computer connected to these detectors calculate the location of the origin of the gamma ray pairs by triangulation.

KD
Answered by Krish D. Physics tutor

3516 Views

See similar Physics GCSE tutors

Related Physics GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Explain the difference between a real and a virtual image.


What is the name given to waves where the oscillations are in the same direction as the wave energy?


Explain Newton's laws of motion


Two identical objects have a charge of magnitude q. If r is the distance bethween them, what should their mass be so that the objects are balanced.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning