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Oncology Overview
Your patient’s care is of the utmost importance to you. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) offers one more way to ensure your patient the best care available. PET/CT contributes significantly to improved cancer care. Currently, Medicare reimburses for 9 types of cancer and is considering an additional 6 indications for reimbursement (see chart below). Many private insurers will cover PET/CT studies for indications beyond those listed below. Contact the private insurance company to determine individual patient eligibility.
The usefulness of PET/CT in oncology can be summarized as follows:
- Differentiation of malignant from benign abnormal masses as seen by other modalities such as CT
- Early detection or recurrence in patients treated for malignancy
- Detection of distant metastases
- Staging
- Following the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiation therapy
Current reimbursement:
| |
Diagnosis |
Staging |
Restaging |
| Breast |
|
X |
X |
| Colorectal |
X |
X |
X |
| Esophageal |
X |
X |
X |
| Head/Neck |
X |
X |
X |
| Lung |
X |
X |
X |
| Lymphoma |
X |
X |
X |
| Melanoma |
X |
X |
X |
| SPN |
X |
|
|
| Thyroid |
|
|
X |
|
Currently being considered for reimbursement:
- Brain cancer
- Cervical cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Small Cell Lung cancer
- Testicular cancer
PET or Positron Emission Tomography is a noninvasive diagnostic imaging procedure that assesses the level of metabolic activity in the human body. PET/CT is remarkably different from its radiological counterparts in that it provides functional rather than strictly anatomic information. It does so by the use of special radio-labeled tracers, 2-Fluoro-Deoxy-Glucose, or FDG, most commonly sugar, that when injected are distributed in the cells of the body in proportion to the rate at which they are metabolized.
Since tumors typically grow at a faster rate than normal cells, they have a higher demand for energy-providing substances such as sugar. As a result, tumor cells concentrate more radio-labeled sugar than normal cells, allowing tumors of sufficient size to be easily detected.
A common concern of individuals undergoing PET/CT or other nuclear medicine procedures is that radioactive materials are injected into the body. Since merely tracer diagnostic amounts of medicine are administered the procedure poses no more serious a risk than more conventional radiological imaging such as CT or fluoroscopy. The medicines are only present in the body for a short time (less than a day) and cause no side effects.
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