PET/CT Imaging

PET/CT Imaging at the Swedish Cancer Institute offers Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography (CT) at the First Hill location – 1221 Madison Street, 1st Floor location. The center’s 16-slice PET/CT Scanner is one of the most powerful imaging tools that physicians can use to help diagnose and treat patients with cancer.

Services at the center include:

• PET/CT: Positron emission tomography and computerized tomography
• 4-D respiratory gating
• Positron emission mammography (PEM)
• Lap lasers for radiation therapy planning
• Integration with the Swedish Cancer Institute's radiation therapy treatment planning software

One of the most important recent advances in imaging has been the fusion of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography (CT) scanning. Using a PET/CT scanner physicians can view images in three different planes – axial, coronal, and sagittal with high-quality resolution that they can see where disease tissue ends and healthy tissue begins. The scanner also shows the metabolic activity of cells, which helps physicians better understand changes at the cellular level that could be early indications of cancer.

Fused PET/CT scans have proven invaluable in helping oncologists make more accurate diagnosis and staging assessments, choosing the most appropriate therapies, and determining whether or not a therapy is effective against a cancer.

Physicians are using the PET/CT scanner to help diagnose and treat a variety of cancers, including breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, head and neck, lung, lymphoma, melanoma and thyroid. Swedish was one of the first in the nation to offer computer-aided advanced lung nodule detection and analysis, a state-of-the-art set of imaging and analysis tools that can benefit patients with lung cancer. Additionally, at Swedish, PET/CT helps radiation oncologists during the treatment-planning phase. The PET/CT scanner helps them target the exact location of the tumor for radiation treatment, determine appropriate dosage levels and minimize damage to healthy tissue in the process.

About PET/CT Imaging @ Swedish Cancer Institute

The PET/CT Imaging Center at the Swedish Cancer Institute was developed through a partnership between the Swedish Cancer Institute, Seattle Nuclear Medicine and the Tumor Institute Radiation Oncology Group. 

Appointments & Referrals

You must have a referral from your physician to have a PET/CT exam.

To schedule an exam please call our scheduling line at 206-215-6487.

If you have any questions, please contact the PET/CT coordinator at 206-215-6487 or
email pet-ctimaging@swedish.org.

For Patients- Preparing for your PET/CT Exam

Patient Preparation Form