|
|
Can I get a PET scan on an Inpatient? Yes you can. The only thing we ask is that the results of the PET scan would influence patient management during the current hospital admission. It is against Medicare (and most private insurers’) regulations to keep a patient admitted for the sole purpose of convenience while waiting for an exam. For these patients, please discharge them and we will be happy to accommodate them as outpatients in the very near future. For those inpatients that will receive a PET scan, remember to place them on NPO status for at least 4 hours prior to the exam with no glucose or dextrose in their IV fluids or TPN. Also, make sure they are not hyperglycemic (including temporary steroid-induced) and if diabetic, follow the guidelines in the patient preparation section. You cannot schedule a concurrent diagnostic CT with the PET scan for inpatients (but of course you do get the standard PET/non-diagnostic CT). The diagnostic CT portion, if desired, will take place separately in CT (please see the PET/CT section for further details). And please, do not schedule multiple procedures for the same time of day, only to cancel the PET exam. Unlike CT or MR, we cannot repeatedly cancel and reschedule a PET exam—each time this occurs the hospital would lose the several hundred dollar cost of the rapidly decaying FDG dose. |
