Cancer Cancer Screening and Prevention

Improving Cancer Scans with a Warm Blanket

In what could be one of the simplest—and more comfortable—ways to improve cancer diagnosis, researchers from Saint Louis University have found that placing a warm blanket on patients before a PET or CT scan can improve accuracy.

In many cases, doctors rely on PET or CT scans to diagnose and stage cancer. However, up to nine percent of patients end up being misdiagnosed with cancer because their scans are difficult to read. This difficulty is caused by the presence of brown adipose tissue, a type of fat that can look a lot like cancer in these scans. When a warm blanket is placed on top of patients before the scan, however, these scans are a lot easier to read.

"It’s a solution that is not only effective but low-cost and extremely easy for any PET facility to implement,” said Dr. Medhat Osman, assistant professor of nuclear medicine and PET director at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, in a press release.

Before a cancer scan, patients are typically injected with a “tracer.” This is a harmless chemical that is absorbed by cancer cells so the PET or CT scan can measure the size and prevalence of cancer in the body. The problem is that brown fat, which is particularly common in thin women, also readily absorbs this tracer, making what is normal body fat appear to be cancer.

Previously, the best way to deal with brown fat would be to give the patient valium or beta-blockers before the scan. Both drugs work by inhibiting the amount of tracer the brown fat can absorb by up to 30 percent. The blanket, however, offers a much cheaper, convenient and even more effective way to improve the accuracy of these scans. One study, presented at the 2006 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in San Diego, showed that the blanket technique reduced tracer uptake by as much as 62 percent.

“A warm blanket is more than twice as effective, and patients don’t have to worry about negative drug interactions or how they are going to get home after their scan.” said Osman.