Better health and ageing for all Australians

Diagnostic Imaging

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

The Diagnostic Services Branch of the Department of Health and Ageing is responsible for managing public funding of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) services in Australia

In this section:

The Diagnostic Services Branch of the Department of Health and Ageing is responsible for managing public funding of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) services in Australia.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine technology that uses short-lived radioisotopes to enable the non-invasive imaging of metabolic functions within the body. While computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) primarily provide information about anatomical structure, PET can image and quantify biochemical and/or physiological function. This is important because functional changes caused by disease are often detectable before any structural abnormalities become evident.

Whilst PET is primarily used in the staging and monitoring of malignant cancers, it is employed in other areas such as neurology and cardiology.

PET is currently funded through various arrangements which expire in June 2010 including –


The Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) continues to evaluate potential indications where PET would be effective and will provide recommendations to the Government on any future expansion of PET Medicare items, including indications relating to lymphoma and sarcoma/glioma.

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For further information please email lisa.jamieson@health.gov.au
or Telephone02 6289 1457.