About Positron Explained
An independent, plain-language guide to positron emission tomography, written to be read by people who are not specialists.
Most people meet PET imaging at an awkward moment. A doctor mentions a scan, a letter arrives with instructions about fasting, and the words on the page (tracer, uptake, coincidence) mean little. This guide exists to close that gap with ordinary language and honest sourcing.
What this site is
Positron Explained follows the physical chain of a PET scan from the radioactive tracer to the finished image, then looks at how the method is used in cancer care, brain conditions and heart disease. The home page gives the overview in six stages. The other pages go deeper on one topic each.
It is written for two groups. One is patients and the people who support them. The other is students and teachers who want the physics and the biology laid out clearly. A page for each group sits near the top of the site: what to expect on scan day and the classroom explainer.
Who writes it
The pages are written and maintained by the Positron Explained editors, a small independent team. We are not a clinic, a hospital department or a medical practice, and we do not claim clinical authorship of any page. Where a page states a fact, a figure or a date, it comes from a public source that is named at the foot of that page, and you can open it yourself.
We are not affiliated with any hospital, university, imaging society, scanner manufacturer or tracer supplier. If a page ever appears to speak for one of them, that is a mistake and we want to hear about it.
What it is not
This is educational reading, not advice. We do not interpret anyone's scan, suggest tests or comment on treatment. Preparation, tracers and reporting differ from centre to centre and from country to country, so the instructions from your own imaging team always take priority over anything written here.
For how we choose and check sources, read the editorial standards. For a list of public organisations that publish good material of their own, see further reading.
The short version
Positron Explained is a free, independent reference that explains PET in plain language and shows its sources. It is meant to help you ask better questions of the people who are actually responsible for your care or your course.