PEM at Palos

Positron Emission Mammography

PEM is a specially designed positron emission tomography (PET) scanner for imaging breasts and other small body parts. For decades, PET has been a critical tool in the treatment of cancer. Just as PET uses injected radioactive isotopes to locate cancer cells throughout the entire body, PEM does the same but on a much smaller scale and with greater accuracy than breast MRI. PEM generates 12 tomographic slices per view, offering a 3-D perspective of the breast. With PEM, physicians can detect tumors as small as 2 mm, about the width of a grain of rice.

Because PEM is a more advanced diagnostic tool, it is not recommended as a general screening test for all patients. But for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, PEM provides the most advance technology available to help fight the disease.

PEM scans are available at the Palos Diagnostic Center in Tinley Park. Patients with an order may schedule a PEM by calling (708) 923-8120. The Palos Diagnostic Center located in the Alpha Med building at 17333 S. LaGrange Rd. in Tinley Park.