PET-Computed Tomography in Veterinary Medicine.

PET/CT is an advanced imaging modality that is becoming more commonly used in veterinary medicine. It is most commonly used to image patients with cancer, and the most frequently used radiopharmaceutical is F-18 FDG. F-18 FDG is a glucose analog that highlights areas of increased glucose metabolism on the PET images. CT images provide excellent anatomic depiction and aid in interpretation of the PET data. Many types of cancer are hypermetabolic on PET/CT scans, but normal structures and areas of inflammation are also hypermetabolic, so knowledge of normal imaging and cytologic or histopathologic evaluation of lesions is essential.