Diet before PET-CT examination with fluorodeoxyglucose, contrast agent, choline. What can you eat

PET is a diagnostic imaging tool, which is a process by which biological functions of the body can be displayed. So, due to the small amount of biological marker, the PET scan procedure can assess areas of abnormal glucose metabolism in the body.

This metabolic change can be seen before physical changes are visible on CT or MRI. The latest advancement in imaging has combined PET scanning with computed tomography (PET-CT), which made it possible to more accurately localize the areas of interest. However, this procedure requires serious preparation, including adherence to a certain diet before it.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear diagnostic tool that examines functioning tissues body, such as blood flow, oxygen use and sugar metabolism, to help doctors diagnose and treat disease.

Extremely small cancers and changes in the heart and brain can be detected with PET-CT using a small amount of radioactive glucose injected into a vein. Therefore, it is important to follow a specific diet before the procedure to ensure the correct distribution of glucose throughout the body. This will possibly reveal signs of potential health problems.

Essence and basic principles

At the beginning of the PET scan, the patient sits in a chair and receives an injection of a small amount of a radioactive material called FDG into a vein in the arm. This usually does not cause any change in well-being.

After the injection, you need to sit quietly for some time, usually about 30-60 minutes. At this time, you only need to rest in a sitting position - you cannot get up and walk, talk to others on the phone or read. This allows the injected indicator substance to pass throughout the body.

The patient is then asked to lie down on a table, which is moved through the PET-CT scanner. The machine has a larger opening than an MRI and does not make any sounds. The PET scan procedure takes about 1 hour.

When planning a PET scan, it is important to remember that the doctor will require strict adherence to the diet in preparation for the procedure, no later than 12 hours in advance. before the visit. A typical PET-CT preparation is as follows.

You should not perform any significant physical activity, such as sports exercise or weight lifting, 48 hours before the test. It is recommended that you drink plenty of fluids in the 24 hours before your scan, but avoid sugar and other high-carb foods.

The day before the procedure:

• You should not drink caffeinated or even non-caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or soda) within 24 hours of your examination.
• If you are taking any beta-blocker or calcium channel blocker, you need
• consult a doctor.

12 hours before the appointment:

• The patient was asked to follow a low-carb diet. Foods that can be eaten include meat, hard cheese, tofu, eggs, butter, and starch-free vegetables.
• Some foods that are not permitted during this period include cereals, pasta, milk, bread, and other sugars.
• If your procedure is scheduled for the evening and breakfast is not covered by the 12-hour preparation period, you should still only eat low-carb foods.

6 hours before the appointment:

• Any diet requires you to stop eating 6 hours before your PET scan. before admission.
• However, during this period, you can continue to drink water.

If a rubidium preparation is planned to be administered during a PET scan, 3 hours in advance. before the procedure, it is forbidden to consume any food and drink, except for water. When preparing for PET-CT with FDG injection, 6 hours in advance. before the examination, do not chew chewing gum, take food and drinks other than water.

For best results, it is important to ensure adequate fluid intake. People with diabetes should avoid food

within 4 hours. before the examination. In this case, you can continue to take the prescribed medication with water. After PET / CT, it is recommended to drink plenty of fluids to quickly remove the injected glucose and contrast dye from the body.

Helpful hints

The diet before PET-CT has a very significant list of recommended foods.

Foods to eat before scanning include:

• Sources of protein (plain chicken, beef, turkey, pork, lamb, ham, low-fat sausages, fish, seafood, most nuts, seeds, eggs, and unsweetened peanut butter).
• Vegetables (green beans, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, celery, asparagus, cucumber, lettuce, mushrooms and spinach).
• Dairy products (low-fat cottage cheese, hard cheese, sour cream, eggs, butter, and light yogurt).
• Condiments (mayonnaise, oil vinegar salad dressing, vegetable oil, vinegar, mustard, olives, pickled cucumbers and barbecue sauce if it contains less than 3 g of carbohydrates).
• Drinks (sugar-free soda, drinking or mineral water)

It should be noted that this diet does not imply the consumption of strictly healthy foods. The restrictions apply only to sugar and carbohydrates.

Sources of carbohydrates (mostly fast) and sugar are prohibited	High protein and fatty foods prepared by boiling, stewing, or frying in oil (but not on a charcoal grill or charcoal grill) - recommended
bread, toast, croutons, bagels, cookies, crackers, muffins, crisps and cereals	chicken, turkey, fish, beef, pork
milk, cheese	meat and sausages without additives
pasta, granola	eggs and omelets without milk
sweetened peanut and other nut butters	bacon
potatoes, legumes, corn	steaks and kebabs without additives
fruits and fruit juices	diet sodas
rice	tea and coffee without milk and sugar
caramel, candy, bars	mineral and drinking water
sugar, fructose, sucrose, splenda and other similar sweeteners
alcoholic drinks
sweet soda

List of prohibited foods

The diet before PET-CT in all cases suggests avoiding any food that contains glucose, as well as most processed foods (even the "low-carb" versions) for 24 hours before scanning.

Foods to avoid the day before your PET / CT scan include:

• Certain vegetables (potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, peas, and corn)
• All fruits and fruit juices.
• Cereals and cereals and products from them (rice, rice cakes, bread, any products cooked in bread crumbs, crackers and pasta).
• Certain dairy products (milk and ice cream, including herbal counterparts).
• All legumes, including soy.
• Beverages containing alcohol and / or caffeine (beer, wine, liquor, coffee or tea).
• Most condiments and sauces (ketchup, syrups, jams, sauces, and gravies).
• Snacks and snacks (chips, pretzels, candy, chewing gum, muesli bars and hard candy).

Main menu

Diet before PET-CT scan in 24 hours. requires the use of only products from the list of permitted. Any menu can be composed of them. It should be noted that certain categories are allowed in strictly limited quantities.

Group of approved products	With no restrictions	With restrictions
Protein food	Beef; chicken; Turkey; fish; pork; mutton; ham (without honey in the composition); low-fat sausages; seafood; eggs	Peanut butter (1 or 2 servings total per day) most nuts and sunflower seeds (only 50 g per day)
Dairy	cottage cheese; cheese; sour cream; oil; cream 10-12% fat	low-fat yogurt with artificial sweetener (1 serving per day)
Vegetables	green beans; asparagus; broccoli; cabbage and cauliflower celery; cucumber; leaf salad; mushrooms; radish; spinach; zucchini	tomatoes and bell peppers (1 serving for laziness)
Condiments and sauces	mayonnaise; vegetable oil; vinegar; mustard; pepper hot sauce; tartar sauce; olives; pickles	oil-vinegar salad dressing; BBQ sauce (only those with 3 g or less carbohydrates per serving)
The drinks	diet carbonated drinks (with artificial sweeteners); black coffee or tea (artificial sweetener and 10% cream can be added); drinking and mineral water without sugar

Sample menu for 1 day

The approximate menu for 1 day if you are on a diet before PET-CT will look like this.

Breakfast:

• bacon / sausage and fried eggs or omelet with ham and cheese or omelet with vegetables and cheese;
• low-fat yogurt.

Dinner:

• egg or tuna salad (no tomatoes), or ham and cheese in lettuce;
• cottage cheese.

Dinner:

• vegetable or meat soup or steak with cheese and vegetables (no buns and bread) or chicken with barbecue sauce.

Snacks:

• celery and peanut butter;
• light yogurt or cottage cheese.

Other options for the day menu may be as follows:

Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
breakfast	scrambled eggs with bacon and tomato	steak and greens	vegetable casserole with cheese
dinner	grilled chicken salad (dressing with up to 5 g carbohydrates)	Cobb salad (dressing with up to 5 g carbohydrates)	unflavored steak (100% meat) and leafy greens garnish
dinner	grilled salmon with stewed vegetables	grilled chicken and steamed asparagus	salad of non-starchy vegetables with fish (dressing with up to 5 g of carbohydrates)
snacks	hard boiled eggs and fresh cucumbers	cottage cheese, a small portion of salad from non-starchy vegetables	cheese and fresh cucumbers

Recipes

The diet before PET-CT is actually a low-carb and high-protein diet, which offers low fat restriction and a diet primarily based on animal products origin. Many diets designed to lose weight or achieve athletic performance (eg "drying") fall under this description.

Despite the limited range of products, the menu can be composed of full-fledged hearty dishes, which, at the same time, have a pleasant taste. This will completely eliminate the feeling of hunger, which sometimes occurs with forced dietary restrictions.

Chicken breast with butter in the airfryer

Soaked in buttermilk and seasoned with a mixture of herbs and spices, the bone-in chicken breast is perfectly juicy.

To prepare it you will need:

• 1 large chicken breast without skin, but with bones (700-800g);
• 1 tbsp. 1% buttermilk
• 1.5 hours l. dried parsley;
• 1.5 hours l. fresh or dried garlic;
• 0.75 tsp l. kosher salt;
• 0.5 tsp l. dried dill;
• 0.5 tsp l. onion powder;
• 0.25 hrs l. garlic powder;
• non-stick olive oil spray.

To bake a fragrant chicken breast in the airfryer, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Place chicken in a bowl and cover with buttermilk completely, leave at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, or refrigerate for 4 hours.
2. Combine remaining spices in another bowl.
3. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk, allowing the excess liquid to drain, then place it in the airfryer, skin side up, sprinkle with the seasoning mixture on top and leave for 5 minutes so that all additives are absorbed into the meat.
4. After this time, sprinkle it with oil and put it on the grill of the airfryer, cook at 150 ° C for 10 minutes, then increase the heat to 180 ° C and continue cooking until an instant thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 70 ° C and the chicken is golden, 30 to 35 min.
5. Place the breast on a cutting board and let stand for 10 minutes, then cut the meat off the bones and cut into thick slices for serving.

Salmon with fresh herbs

This simple and healthy dish is made with baked salmon with fresh lemon and a variety of fresh herbs such as dill, parsley and garlic.

All you need:

• 2 lemons;
• 8 to 10 sprigs of parsley;
• extra virgin olive oil;
• 1 half carcass of wild salmon, such as sockeye salmon or coho salmon, with skin, about 1 kg;
• 0.5 tsp l. kosher salt;
• freshly ground black pepper;
• 2 tbsp. l. chopped fresh dill;
• 1 tbsp. l. chopped fresh garlic;
• 1 tbsp. l. chopped fresh parsley.

It's easy to make baked red fish:

1. Cut 1 lemon into thin slices, the second into slices.
2. Put the lemon slices on a large baking sheet, place the fish skin side down in the center on them, place the parsley sprigs on top and sprinkle for 1 tsp. l. olive oil, rub it evenly over the surface, season with salt and coarsely ground pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 220 ° C, place the filled baking sheet in it and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet, until the thickest part of the fish is cooked in the middle.
4. Sprinkle the prepared salmon with fresh herbs on top and serve with lemon wedges.

Airfryer turkey fillet

Airfryer turkey breast is moist and juicy, with a beautiful dark golden skin. Moreover, it bakes faster than in the oven.

For cooking you need:

• 1 kg turkey breast, bone-in with skin (but with ribs removed);
• 1 tbsp. l. olive oil;
• 2 h l. kosher salt;
• 0.5 tbsp. l. universal dry seasoning for turkey or chicken, no salt.

The cooking process is as follows:

1. Drizzle 0.5 tbsp. l. butter on the turkey breast, season both sides with salt and poultry seasoning, then add the remaining 0.5 tbsp. l. oils on the skin.
2. Preheat the airfryer to 180 ° C and bake the turkey skin side down for 20 minutes, turn over and continue cook until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 71 ° C using an instant thermometer readout. It will take another 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the breast.
3. Leave the turkey to rest for 10 minutes. before slicing.

Baked Lamb Ribs

Before having a PET-CT scan, the diet may include not only chicken and turkey, but also red meat. For example, oven-baked lamb flavored with rosemary, fresh lemon juice, and garlic is ideal given the constraints and tastes delicious.

To prepare it, you will need the following:

• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 hour l. chopped fresh rosemary leaves;
• 2 strips of lamb ribs (1 kg each);
• a quarter of a lemon;
• 1.5 tsp. l. kosher salt and coarsely ground pepper.

To prepare this mouth-watering dish, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Season the ribs with lemon juice, kosher salt and coarse pepper on both sides, then grate with garlic and sprinkle with rosemary.
2. Place the metal wire rack on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, grease its surface with oil, add the seasoned lamb and leave for about 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 220 ° C.
4. Roast the lamb in the top third of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the food thermometer reads reached 54 ° C (for medium-rare meat), or longer, if you want to get a deep product roasting. To check the readiness, simply insert the tip of the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, being careful not to touch the bone. When the temperature at this point reaches 54 ° C, you're done.
5. Transfer the ribs from the wire rack to a cutting board and let stand, covered with foil, for 10 minutes.
6. To serve, cut the lamb in the grooves between the rib bones and put on plates, if desired, cut off excess fat.

Spicy baked salmon with Brussels sprouts

This simple recipe invites you to prepare a delicious and original dish with a high protein content and a minimum of carbohydrates.

It will require:

• 120 g salmon fillet;
• 1 head of Brussels sprouts;
• light soy sauce;
• Sesame oil;
• lemon juice;
• rice wine vinegar;
• sriracha sauce;
• grape seed oil;
• smoked paprika;
• kosher salt;
• coarsely ground black pepper.

This exquisite dish is very easy to prepare:

1. Marinate salmon fillets in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar and sriracha and for 1 hour. or more in the refrigerator.
2. Combine the Brussels sprouts, cut in half, with grape seed oil, smoked paprika and coarsely ground black pepper and salt.
3. Wrap the seasoned fish and vegetable in a thick sheet of parchment paper (making it look like an envelope) and bake at 180 ° C for 15-20 minutes.

Turkey meatballs with zucchini noodles

When reducing your carbohydrate intake, add more non-starchy, fiber-rich vegetables to your menu. For example, zucchini makes excellent noodles that are suitable as a side dish with all meat dishes, including turkey meatballs. To prepare this delicious combination, you will need the following.

For the meatballs:

• 450 g lean ground turkey;
• 0.3 tbsp. zucchini puree;
  0.3 tbsp. finely chopped onion;
• 2 tbsp. l. grated parmesan;
• 1 egg;
• a pinch of onion powder;
• a pinch of garlic powder.

For zucchini noodles:

• 2-3 small young zucchini;
• olive oil;
• a pinch of onion powder;
• a pinch of garlic powder.

The preparation of this dietary meal is carried out as follows:

1. The oven must be warmed up to 180 ° C.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs until completely homogeneous, roll out balls of the same size from the resulting mass and spread on a baking sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes.
3. Cut the zucchini very thinly in a spiral with a vegetable cutter or peeler (the slices should resemble noodles or spaghetti) and fry in a pan with olive oil, season with garlic and onion powder.
4. When serving, you can add a sauce containing no more than 5 g of carbohydrates per serving.

Baked cod with fried asparagus

Fish dishes should be eaten at least 2 times a week, regardless of any diet. This is because it contains unique nutrients, including omega-3 fats, which are good for the brain and heart. One suitable option is baked cod with cheese and tomatoes and an asparagus garnish.

For this dish you will need:

• 500 g skinless cod fillet;
• 0.25 tbsp grated cheese;
• 200 g diced tomatoes;
• 0.25 tbsp chopped fresh parsley;
• 1 bunch fresh asparagus plus oil for frying.

It's really easy to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 ° C in advance.
2. Place half a kilo of skinless cod in a baking dish, top with grated cheese, diced tomatoes and chopped fresh parsley, bake for about 20 minutes, or until fish is very soft and crumbly middle.
3. For a side dish, fry the blanched asparagus in butter.

This recipe is for 4 servings, so you can reduce the number of ingredients based on your needs. It is also worth noting that many dishes created for other high-protein and low-carbohydrate food systems (Atkis diet, South Beach, and the like) are suitable for the diet menu before PET-CT. The main thing is to pay attention to their composition, and choose options that do not contain strictly prohibited products.

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