FDG-PET In Brain Tumors

A lot has changed in the past four decades. The disease doctors thought they knew then is very different from the cancer they are studying today. Scientists have a much better understanding that cancer is not simply one disease in which cells suddenly start to grow out of control, but rather hundreds of different diseases. In fact, according to the American Association for cancer research (AACR) cancer is more like 200 distinct diseases, each spurred on by slightly different causes and requiring different treatments (Park, 2011, para 2). New technology is being used to get an image and an identification on cancerous cells. This then helps scientists better understand this group of diseases. Robust techniques, such as RNA interference, help
Furthermore, scientists can now control molecules that cause the immune system to kill specific cancer cells. In combination, these tools help investigators diagnose, study, and treat this deadly disease. There have been a number of major advances in imaging technology in recent years, but multislice CT, multiple detectors being placed next to each other so the Ct can collect multiple slice data at the same time, with PET has the most interest in cancer imaging. FDG-PET has been applied to accurate biopsy of infiltrative tumors, tumor grading, and prognostication. Brain tumors form a significant percentage of pediatric oncology. The use of FDG-PET in brain tumors have helped distinguish viable and recurrent tumors from post-therapeutic changes. These diagnostic images in technology also reveal disease sites that are not detected yet by conventional staging methods, resulting in upstaging of disease with potential therapeutic review. However, FDG-PET become useful for assessing need for bone marrow biopsy, residual or recurrent masses seen on CT after
This screening is used to identify drug targets and to get a better vision on unknown cellular pathways. Dells commitment for helping cure children with this evil disease, coupled when developing cloud-based solutions for health information. This helps scientists and physicians share information rapidly and to help with a treatment decision for each child battling cancer. In addition, genomic screening helps manage data collected from clinical trials. As a result, says Robert Weinberg, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the school's Whitehead Institute, "Cancer research will no longer represent a grab bag collection of complex, apparently chaotic phenomena. Instead it will soon become a logical discipline able to explain the genes and proteins driving malignant cell proliferation in terms of a small number of underlying principles." (n.d.,para 3). This is an easier way to locate cancer therapies so the doctors then know what kind of way they can help. Researchers are giving more information on how tumors grow and why as well. The tumors spread increasingly have resulted in better screen tests to produce better treatments with less side