One of the best ways of cancer detection is a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan. Typically, glucose speeds up the growth of cancer cells and that is why doctors inject glucose into the patient’s body when performing the PET scan. The PET scan helps to detect the signs of high glucose consumption by cells. Therefore, having food before a PET scan is not recommended as it tends to throw your body’s glucose levels out of balance and provide inaccurate results.
How to prepare for a PET Scan?
When it comes to PET scan preparations, your physician will advise you to follow a strict diet. The best diet before a PET scan is one that is low in carbohydrates.
Twelve hours prior to the appointment
- The doctor will ask you to follow a diet that is low on low carbohydrates. During this period, you are allowed to eat meat, hard cheese, eggs, tofu, butter, and non-starchy vegetables.
- Some foods you should avoid are cereal, milk, bread, pasta, and other sugars.
- If your scan is scheduled to be performed late in the afternoon and you are allowed to eat breakfast, then you might be asked to eat a low-carbohydrate diet.
Six hours prior to the appointment:
- You will be advised not to eat anything six hours ahead of your PET scan appointment. However, you are allowed to drink water.
- Further, you should take the copies of reports of recent CT scans and MRIs.
Foods you can have
Actually, you are not required to stay hungry before a PET scan. Some of the foods you can eat are those that are rich in protein content. High protein, low carbohydrate diet ensures the stability of glucose levels in your body. Therefore, you can eat steak, chicken, fish, eggs, duck, cheese, turkey, asparagus, mushrooms, and broccoli. Baked chicken and fried whole egg are healthy foods.
Foods you must avoid
Foods that are high in carbohydrate content and low in protein content must be avoided. This is because such foods can throw your body’s glucose levels out of balance and lead to inaccuracies in results. Examples of foods that have high carb content are pasta, potatoes, rice, waffles, oatmeal, raisins, bagels, and bread. Some of the other foods that can impact the results of a PET scan are sugar, caffeine, and tobacco. Therefore, these foods are best avoided. You should also stop doing strenuous exercises 24 hours prior to the scan.
