Welcome to the West of Scotland PET centre, just off Great Western Road,
beyond the Tom Wheldon entrance of the West of Scotland Cancer Care Building,
and near Hyndland train station entrance to Gartnavel.
So, you are coming in for a PET CT scan that uses a special form of radiation to map your body.
When you receive your appointment letter, please call us.
Beside your personal details
let us know if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, live with small children or any pregnant women, or have a carer.
We need to know if you require assistance to walk short distances, wait, bear, or move from a chair to a bed,
or if you have diabetes.
Please tell us about any tests or treatments you have had,
how you will be traveling, or if you need an interpreter.
We remind you not to eat anything during the fasting period, or drink anything except plain water.
Now, this is really important.
Metal items affect the quality of the images, so before the scan you will have to remove bras,
belts, braces, and anything with zippers.
Oh, and the metal rings at the drawstrings often get missed.
Please wear comfortable clothes, and avoid glitter, rhinestones, metal decals, and metal buttons.
When you get here, please check in.
We may ask you about your travel arrangements and fasting,
or give you a short questionnaire to fill out before taking you into the controlled area.
There is a higher concentration of radiation there,
so unless you need help walking or moving, we will ask anyone with you to come back when your appointment is over.
We will check your height and weight, and recheck the details we spoke about when you called us.
We will measure your blood sugar, and insert a cannula into your arm or in the back of your hand,
to give you an injection.
It will only be in place for a short time.
We will inject you with a small amount of radioactive liquids.
For an FDG scan, this will be a radioactive form of sugar called FDG.
Once injected, your body will be radioactive for about eight hours.
It does leave your body quickly,
and in less than two hours it will be half of what it was when it was initially injected,
so please remember, avoid pregnant women and small children while this is in your system.
Your appointment can last two hours or more,
so bring something to read, or something that doesn't require physical activity.
Please do not rely on your phone, as our waiting bays are lead-lined and you won't get a phone signal.
The FDG takes an hour to travel from your bloodstream to all parts of your body that require energy,
so you will have to stay in your waiting bay during this period.
Other chemicals may take more or less time to work.
If you move too much, for example pacing about or knitting,
the energy might go to the muscles that are working.
This is why we ask you to simply read or rest.
We might ask you to drink extra water to give us a better scan, and you can go to the toilet when you want,
but we will ask you to empty your bladder immediately before the scan to improve our images.
We will bring you into the scanning room and ask you to lie on your back.
For your comfort we will place a cushion under your knees,
and normally ask you to rest your arms above your head unless you have issues with your arms or shoulders
or we have been asked to scan you from the top of your head.
If we are scanning you from the top of your head, we will use a specially designed head holder.
The scan will take 20 to 30 minutes,
so be sure to let us know if you do not think you can manage with your arms up.
In this case we will strap your arms by your side to give them some support,
and to remind you not to move them during the scan.
You will go through the scanner three times.
First, we do a scout scan, which gives us the information we use in our measurements.
This is followed by a CT scan, which gives us a three-dimensional image of your body and organs.
Finally, we do the PET part of the scan, which is much longer.
We slowly scan your body, and essentially colour, in the CT scan, to show where the energy is being used.
Please try not to move, or our images may be blurred and we might have to take more.
We will let you know when the scan is finished so you can move your arms again.
We will take you off the scanner,
and as soon as we have confirmation that all the images are clear enough,
we will let you go home.
The images are sent to radiologists for interpretation,
and they will issue a report to your consultant.
This usually takes about a week.
I hope you have found this helpful,
and wish you all the best for your scan and beyond.
Thanks for listening.