What is the use of fluorine-18 in a PET scan?
In: Chemistry
Fluorine 18 is a radioactive isotope that emits an positron (anti-electron). That positrons annihilates with nearby electrons and e,it’s two gamma energy photons) back to back. Detectors set around the patient detect those gamma rays and thus give a line in space along which the f18 was initially located.
After many decays you get many lines in space so you get a map of intersecting lines, the areas where many lines interest are those with a high concentration of the fluorine. Since the molecule the fluorine is attached to is a sugar molecule it get carried by the blood stream to areas which take a lot of blood, like tumors, this lets the doctor figure out where the likely tumors are.
In short, the fluorine 18 is a marker for those areas of high blood requirements.
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