ECT and PET

When cancer is diagnosed, the patient’s first reaction is shock. He or she then asks about forms of treatment and when answering these questions also doctors are often faced with limits of what is possible. When confronted with the possibility of death, many people develop unexpected energy and investigate everything which promises an improvement of their health. In this way, more and more attention is being focussed on alternative cancer treatments.

One example is mistletoe therapy. However, there are many attractive alternative cancer treatments apart from herbs. A method which is becoming more and more important in the diagnosis of cancer is the Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This is a method which originated in nuclear medicine. In addition, a further development also exists, which  is a combination of PET and computer tomography (CT). This technique, which is considered to be an alternative cancer treatment, is called PET/CT for short. PET/CT makes cancer cells visible by making use of the extremely high metabolism of the abnormal cells.

The areas of interest in the cell are shown as shining bright specks in the PET picture. Areas where there is a healthy metabolism are shown as being dark. The result is: If  abnormal cell areas are shown in PET, then UCT is brought into use. It is then possible in a single examination to simultaneously create a CT-picture (computer tomography). After the examination, the PET and the CT pictures are correctly anatomatically matched to one another. The therapist is therefore able to recognise the anatomical structure to which the abnormally high activity  in the PET corresponds and can therefore as a rule make an accurate diagnosis.

A further alternative cancer treatment and diagnostic technique is the Percutaneous Electro-Carcinoma Therapy (ECT)  - Electrotherapy, the basis of which is the principle that low voltage direct current is introduced into the tumour. Electrical charges of this strength have a destructive effect on the cells. They shrink or disappear.

The great advantage of the ECT Therapy is that it has very few side effects.