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There are only a few PET scan machines, about 250 in the world the last I heard. They are quite expensive to buy and terribly expensive to operate. The ligand [what is injected into the patient to be traced in the scan] has a very short life. The ligand used with me had a half life of 20 minutes. The first few scan passes went quickly, but as the ligand weakened the time per pass increased significantly. The PET scan is slow. A physicist and an "atom smasher" are needed to put additional subatomic particles in orbit around the nuclei of the ligand. The ligand cannot be made in advance. The result is very few machines and high cost. The one I was in at Johns Hopkins was out of service for months a while back for repairs / replacement parts from Sweden. There is a second PET scan machine in Maryland at NIH. The neurologist I use in New Jersey [in a med school] has to send people [rarely] to London to get a scan done. T'ain't cheap!! Will Johnnston A.P.D.A. DelMarVA Chapter Pres. 4049 Oakland School Road Salisbury MD 21804 USA 410-543-0110 ---------- From: Leo Fuhr <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: newbies - re-post Date: Thursday, December 09, 1999 9:52 AM Is it true that PET(Positron Emission Tomography) is only used prior to surgeries and in medical research at present due to the prohibitive cost? Jeanette Fuhr 49/47/44? ---------- From: Michel Margosis <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: newbies - re-post Date: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 10:52 PM At 07:34 1999/10/30 -0400, tina wrote: > first starting having problems in november 1998, mainly >depression, headaches on left side of head and neck, and >tremor in right hand. Seen 3 regular neurosurgeons from >november 98' to may 99'. I received a medicine for benign >tremor, because one neurosurgeon said since the cat scan >was normal I didnt have PD. My understanding of the subject tells me that Positron Emission Tomography scans are the only ones that can verify that the patient has PD. Michel