Tomografía por emisión de positrones

Any illness has a natural history which course is due to different biological processes. Dynamic process cannot obtain an image that reflects this activity, except we could make a metabolic determination and comparation with the rest of the physiological process. The positron emission tomography offers information of these processes and gives us a different point of view in comparison to the rest of the other image modalities. Its main objective is the production of images that illustrate the physiologic function at a molecular level of some specific process, thus it is used to carry out the measurement of different vital processes (metabolism of glucose, perfusion and flow on certain tissues, rates of receiving union of complexes ligand-receptor and the oxygen exchange). With these images we can distinguish between a normal to abnormal functional in some particular structures. In comparison with the traditional nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography uses radiotracers markers like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and fluorine (basic elements of the biological substrates). These isotopes looks like the natural substrata like sugars, water, proteins and oxygen. This technique modifies the rate cost-benefit in oncology, neurology, and cardiology field, to patient treatment. Moreover proved the benefits: a) to diagnosticate diseases before structural changes take place; b) monitoring the treatment response; c) to avoid unnecessary surgical procedures, and d) detect a distant or hidden metastasis.