University of California - Davis’ Equine PET Scanner Providing Results

It has been a busy past few months for the equine positron emission tomography (PET) program at the University of California - Davis (UC Davis) veterinary hospital. The newly-acquired PET scanner was delivered as planned in early August.

Through August and September, six horses were scanned to test the scanner and validate a clinical protocol. For all six horses, both PET scans and computed tomography (CT) scans were performed under the same anesthetic procedure, instead of two separate anesthesias as with the initial cases last year tested on a prototype of the scanner. The anesthesia time remained under three hours with approximately 90 minutes for the PET scan and 30 minutes for the CT scan. During this time, veterinarians imaged as many as six different areas (for example, both front feet, both front fetlocks, and both carpi, or knees). Read more.