Best Hospitals in India for PET Scans: Guide for International Patients

PET Scans

PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography scan) is a test that aids doctors to visualize how tissues and organs situated inside the body are functioning. As opposed to the structure reported on CT or MRI, a PET scan provides a representation of metabolism.

What is the definition of a PET Scan?

• A nuclear medicine radiating examination that employs a minute quantity of a radioactive tracer (usually FDG -flourodeoxyglucose, a kind of sugar).
• The tracer is injected into the body whereby it is concentrated in high activity tissues (such as cancer cells).
• This tracer can be identified by a special camera and it produces precise 3D images.

Why is it Done?

The purpose of using PET scans is frequently to:

Cancer

• Detecting cancer.
• To see to the spreading of the cancer (metastasis).
• Detection of response to treatment.
• Detecting recurrence.

Neurology

• Diagnosing Alzheimer.
• Research of epilepsy and Parkinson disease.
• Evaluation of brain following stroke

Cardiology

• Monitoring blood flow to life-saving heart.
• The detection of areas with decreased activity of the heart muscle (post heart attack).

Procedure

• Tracer Injection: The tracer is injected to the patient.
• Waiting Period: 30 to 60 minutes, waiting on the tracer to circulate in the body.
• Scanning : Patient lies on the table that glides into PET scanner (like CT/MRI).
• Duration of scan: 20-40 minutes.

Best Hospitals in India for PET Scans

Best hospitals for PET scans:

Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon

The Nuclear Medicine Department of the hospital is outfitted with the state-of-the-art imaging technologies:

• PET-CT scanner
• Dual-head gamma camera, SPECT-CT, thyroid probe and Hot Lab facilities

Other infrastructure is 16-slice Philips Medical System PET-CT. Arranged within its larger imaging offering, Artemis incorporates 3 Tesla MRI, cardiac CT scanners, 64-slice, complete PACS and RIS HIS. At Artemis, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans use sophisticated radiotracers, such as FDG (F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose), to image metabolic activity that can occur before anatomical changes are evident on CT or an MRI image.

PET-CT, in combination with whole-body CT, provides the advantages of a single imaging test in situations of particular value:

• Detection and staging of early cancer 
• Tumor aggressiveness Evaluation
• Design and measure responsiveness of treatment

In addition to oncology, PET is utilized in Artemis as well to address:

• Patients with questionable viability of the myocardium should be evaluated prior to CABG or PTCA
• Investigating neuro diseases such as early prediction of Alzheimer and Parkinson disease

Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon

Medanta has a modern high end imaging technology such as PET-CT scan. Their configuration is the use of Biograph TruePoint that combines the functional imaging of PET with a high-resolution diagnostic multislice CT. This technology has significant advantages which include greater diagnostic efficiency (up to 70%), and the ability to reduce radiation (or scan time (up to 50%). The aforementioned cancer detection, staging, treatment planning, and measuring therapeutic response, and recurrent cancer detection are the main uses of PET-CT.

Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon

The Nuclear Medicine department has an acquisition tool known as the Time-of-Flight (TOF) PET-CT scanner by Philips, which can detect lesions as small as 2 mm, provides faster scans, and decreases radiation exposure (almost 50 percent less). Besides the traditional F-18 FDG PET-CT, the center also provides sophisticated tracer imaging, e.g.:

• A Ga-68 DOTANOC in neuroendocrine cancer
• Hypothetically Liquid Scintillation Counting with Ga-68 PSMA and prostate cancer
• Ga-68 Exendin in cancer of the insulinomas and nesidioblastomas

PET-CT procedural services consist of PET-CT guided biopsies, interventional services, and four-dimensional (4D) PET-CT imaging and PET-CT based radiation treatment planning.

Max Hospital, Saket

Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket is a JCI and NABH-certified, multi-state, burgeoning, tertiary care facility in South Delhi with more than 500 beds across its East and West blocks, supplying for high-level care in cancer, neurology, cardiology, transplants, and so on. The medical care facility has an advanced imaging system comprising MRI, CT and PET-CT imaging systems. This reaffirms that PET-CT is a functional service on offer at Max Saket. The uses of PET-CT at Max Saket include cancer detection, staging, treatment follow-up, and perhaps neurologic or cardiac testing, as typical of the use of PET-CT.

Factors Affecting PET scan cost

These are the key elements that influence the cost of PET scan (in India and the world):

The Kind of PET Scan

• Whole Body PET-CT (typically used to stage the cancer) - more costly.
• Lower cost alternative to Brain, Heart or Organ-specific PET - could be cheaper.
• Special Tracer PET scans (e.g., PSMA prostate cancer, DOTANOC neuroendocrine tumors) -expensive tracers.

Tracer Used

• Standard: The more popular and relatively cheaper F-18 FDG is.
• Special: Ga-68 DOTANOC, Ga-68 PSMA, F-18 DOPA, F-18 NaF etc. much more expensive because of its production and the limited supply.

Hospital/Facility Type

• Medanta, Fortis, Max, Artemis hospitals (corporate hospitals) -more expensive because of the advanced infrastructure.
• Standalone diagnostic centers- may be able to charge competitive prices

Technology & Equipment

• PET-CT (most common): It is PET fused with CT and has moderate cost.
• Digital PET-CT / Time-of-Flight PET-CT: You will get more clear digital versions; your scanning is faster, so the cost is also increased.
• PET-MRI: Most rare, the most advanced and most costly.

Hospital Location

• Metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Gurgaon): its cost is more as there are operation costs.
• Tier-2 cities: Lesser expensive.

Contrast/Additional Imaging

• When PET is used with a contrast-enhanced CT, this increases cost.
• In some cases multiple scans (pre-therapy and post-therapy) are advised to the client → repetitive cost.

Patient Factors

• Body weight: Tracer dose is proportional to the weight of a person which means higher doses are associated with high cost.

• Special medical circumstances /conditions (e.g., repeat scans, additional sequences to cover cardiovascular, or neuro study).

PET scan for cancer detection

One of the most critical scanning tools of cancer detection and management is PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography scan) since it displays the actual details of the tissues not only of their structure (as applied by CT/MRI), but also on their metabolic activity.

PET Scan in the Detection of Cancer

How It Works?

• A low dosage of a radioactive substance in the form of a sugar tracer (FDG – fluorodeoxyglucose) is placed in the blood system.
• Cancerous cells tend to utilize sugar faster than other cells hence the latter take up more FDG.
• PET scanner identifies the setting of these high activity and form images.

Applications in Cancer

• Detection / Diagnosis- Detects suspicious tumors at an early stage before they are visible using CT or MRI.
• Staging -Skews where cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and other parts of the body (metastasis).
• Treatment Planning- Assists physicians in the determination of the most appropriate surgery or radio, chemotherapy.
• Observation of Response - Determines whether a tumor is diminishing following treatment
• Recurrence Check: Detects whether cancer has come back.

Typical Cancers where PET check is helpful

• Lung cancer
• Breast cancer
• Lymphoma
• Esophageal cancer
• Colorectal cancer
• Head and neck cancers
• Prostate cancer (PET tracers like Ga-68 PSMA)
• Ga-68 DOTANOC Neuroendocrine tumors

Factors Affecting Affordable PET scans in India

These are the clear determinants that influence the accessibility of PET scans to patients in India who need to find an affordable practitioner without having to fear the quality of the diagnosis:

• Type of Hospital / Diagnostic Center
• Type of PET Scan / Tracer Used
• City & Location
• Technology Used
• Contrast & Additional Imaging
• Patient’s Medical Factors

Affordable PET scans in India by GetWellGo

Although GetWellGo does not perform PET scans itself, it can help you locate some affordable PET scans by:

• Negotiating lower rates: Negotiated rates are lower for package rates offered by partnering hospitals, especially to international patients. 
• Giving pricing cost details of each hospital hence enabling you to make an informed choice. 
• Ensuring facilitation of your visit to access PET scanning services through the process of logistics such as appointments, facilitation of visas and treatment planning.

Why Choose GetWellGo for PET Scans?

GetWellGo is regarded as a leading supplier of healthcare services. We help our foreign clients choose the best treatment that suit their needs both financially and medically.

We offer:

• Complete transparency
• Fair costs.
• 24 hour availability.
• Medical E-visas
• Online consultation from recognized Indian experts.
• Assistance in selecting India's top hospitals for PET Scans.
• Expert doctor with a strong track record of success
• Assistance during and after the course of treatment.
• Language Support
• Travel and Accommodation Services
• Case manager assigned to every patient to provide seamless support in and out of the hospital like appointment booking
• Local SIM Cards
• Currency Exchange
• Arranging Patient’s local food