A brief history of positron emission tomography (PET)

The development of positron emission tomography (PET) illustrates how advances in basic science translates into benefits for human beings. In 1930 Ernest Lawrence and co-workers conceived of the cyclotron. By 1938 Lawrence, Livingston, et al had designed a “medical cyclotron”. The subsequent production of C-11, N-13, O-15, and F-18 found many uses in medical and physiologic research. The introduction of F-18 deoxyglucose represents another major step toward practical clinical use of positron-emitting tracers. We have now achieved the transition from the postulation of the existence of positrons to their use in a wide variety of diseases.