Abstract
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a powerful tool for tumor diagnosis, and it is widely conducted in around 400 PET centers in Japan because Japanese National Health Insurance System covers PET scans for tumor diagnosis. This article aims at presenting an overview of the PET scan using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). FDG give us semi-quantitative index to describe physiological condition of tumor, metabolic rate of glucose metabolism. First, brief summary of the theory, and then some issues are discussed to assure the quality of the index. The qualification procedure organized by Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine is also mentioned.
