Images obtained with PET (axial sections) that show the effects of chronic drug exposure on various proteins involved in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission and on<unk>  function (as assessed by<unk>  glucose metabolism). While some effects are common to many drugs of abuse,...others are more specific. These include the decrease...in<unk>  monoamine oxidase B (...the enzyme involved in DA metabolism) in cigarette smokers. The<unk> bow scale was used to code the PET images; radiotracer concentration is displayed from higher to lower as red > yellow > green > blue. Before the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) became widespread, PET scanning was the preferred method of functional (as opposed to structural)<unk>  imaging, and it still continues to make large contributions to neuroscience. PET scanning is also useful in PET-guided stereotactic surgery and radiosurgery for treatment of intracranial tumors, arteriovenous malformations and other surgically treatable conditions. PET scanning is also used for diagnosis of<unk>  disease, most notably because<unk>  tumors, strokes, and neurondegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease) all cause great changes in<unk>  metabolism, which in turn causes detectable changes in PET scans. PET is probably most useful in early cases of certain dementias (with classic examples being Alzheimer's disease and Pick's disease) where the early damage is too diffuse and makes too little difference in<unk>  volume and gross structure to change CT and standard MRI images enough to be able to reliably differentiate it from the "normal" range of cortical atrophy which occurs with aging (in many but not all) persons, and which does not cause clinical dementia. PET is also actively used for multiple sclerosis and other acquired demyelinating syndromes, but mainly for research into pathogenesis instead of diagnosis. They use specific radioligands for microglial activity. Currently is widely used the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO). Also combined PET-CT are sometimes performed.
Brain positron emission tomography
Whole body imaging
Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging
Emission computed tomography
Narcology
Photon-counting computed tomography
Tumor metabolome
Breast imaging