title: [Basic concepts on 18F-FDG PET/CT: definitions and normal variants].
abstract: The PET/CT (positron emission tomography with multislice helical computed tomography), is nowadays one of the leader imaging diagnostic tools in medicine. This technology has been present in Mexico since the last three years. Although the physical principles of PET has been known for more than 30 years, it has been the introduction of PET/CT what let the acquisition and post processing of fused PET/CT images currently used in imaging diagnosis in clinical medicine. These fused PET/CT images allow an accurate localization of the abnormal fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake, which can be related to inflammation or neoplastic processes. This article presents a brief review of the fundamentals of PET/CT, the basic physics principles and examples of normal variants of the 18F-FDG uptake that are not associated with a neoplastic entity.
authors.affiliation: Unidad PET/CT, Fundación Clinica Médica Sur, Deleg. Tlalpan, México DF, México. ernest.roldan@usa.net
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roldán-Valadez
authors.forename: Iván
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vega-González
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valdivieso-Cárdenas
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rumoroso-García
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Morales-Santillán
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Osorio-Cardiel
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18