Term: carbon C 11-acetate

Pronunciation: (KAR-bun ... A-seh-tayt)

Description:

A radioactive substance being studied in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Carbon C 11-acetate gets taken up by cells in the body, and a PET scanner is used to find which cells in the body have taken it up. Since more carbon C 11-acetate is taken up by cancer cells than by normal cells, it can be used to help find cancer in the body and diagnose disease. Also called 11C-acetate.