This syringe contains a radioactive form of glucose known as FDG. The doctor will soon inject its contents into her patient’s arm,
whom she’s testing for cancer using a PET scanner. The FDG will quickly circulate through his body.
If he has a tumor, cancer cells within it will take up a significant portion of the FDG,
which will act as a beacon for the scanner. PET tracers such as FDG
are among the most remarkable tools in medical diagnostics, and their life begins in a particle accelerator,
just hours earlier. The particle accelerator in question is called a cyclotron,
and it’s often housed in a bunker within hospitals. It uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles
like protons faster and faster along a spiraling path. When the protons reach their maximum speed,
they shoot out onto a target that contains a few milliliters of a type of water with a heavy form of oxygen called oxygen-18.
When a proton slams into one of these heavier oxygen atoms, it kicks out another subatomic particle called a neutron.
