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

Related Physics GCSE answers

All answers ▸

What was the Rutherford gold foil experiment


Define the term ultrasound wave


On a see-saw Mary, weight 600N balances John, weight 200N when she sits 1.5m away from the pivot. How far from the pivot is John?


Trolley A weighs 5kg and is moving at 15m/s to the right. It collides with a stationary Trolley B, weighing 10kg more than Trolley A. After the collision they move off together. Calulate the velocity that they move off with.