PET/CT scans combine the excellent anatomic images of the CT scans and the functional information of the PET scans to detect cancer by identifying whether a cancer has occurred, its location, shape, metabolic abnormalities, etc.

CT scans can precisely reflect the anatomical changes of the body to observe the location and shape of a lesion, but early detection and detecting the characteristics of the lesion are difficult, as well as evaluation of changes to the lesion after treatment.

PET scans can precisely detect abnormalities in metabolism, which comes before anatomical changes, allowing an earlier detection of tumors compared to CT scans, and is a suitable test method for determining the stage of a disease, identification of a tumor as benign or malignant, deciding the most effective treatment method, and evaluating recurrence of disease after treatment.

But PET scans have lower resolutions compared to CT scans, which obscures the determination of the exact location of the lesion or the relationship of the lesion to surrounding organs. To complement these shortcomings of the PET scan with the advantages of the CT scan combined, the PET/CT scan was created. PET/CT scans are used clinically in the fields of neurologic disease, malignancies, and cardiac diseases.

The PET/MRI equipment has the PET/CT equipment and the MRI installed in the same space, to allow sequential imaging and fusion of images, and was established as the first of its kind in Korea at the Department of Radiology of Korea Cancer Center Hospital, to be used for clinical research and treatment.

‘PET/CT’ (Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography) scan, which is a combination of the PET scan and CT scan, are currently being used nationwide for early detection of cancer and evaluation of results of treatment. It is known to show outstanding diagnostic images and evaluation of treatment results in certain cancers, and the PET/MRI, which combines the ability of PET/CT and additional advantages from MRI such as excellent soft tissue constrast, unique MRI's functional analyses, has the potential for improvement of clinical applications.