WOODBRIDGE — The Virginia Department of Health will hold an informal fact-finding session after a petition to add a mobile PET/CT scanner was filed by Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.
A PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography) scanner is used to detect the early onset of cancer. A radioactive isotope, called a tracer, is injected into the body, and sugar inside the injection is absorbed by cancer cells, allowing the scanner to identify them.