PET scan results typically take between 24 hours and five days to reach you, depending on the facility and how the results are communicated. A radiologist reviews the images and writes a report, which then goes to the doctor who ordered your scan. That doctor either calls you, schedules a follow-up appointment, or releases the report through a patient portal.
Typical Turnaround Time
Most hospitals and imaging centers deliver PET scan results within one to five business days. Newton-Wellesley Hospital, for example, states that a radiologist will evaluate images within five days and produce a report. Larger hospitals with dedicated nuclear medicine teams often turn results around faster, sometimes within 24 to 48 hours, while smaller or busier facilities may take the full five days.
The report doesn’t come directly to you. A radiologist with specialized training in PET scans reviews the images, writes a formal report, and sends it to the provider who ordered the scan. That provider then contacts you to discuss the findings, either by phone, through a portal message, or at a scheduled appointment. This extra step can add a day or two beyond when the radiologist finishes reading.
Why Some Results Take Longer
Several factors can stretch that timeline. If you’ve had previous scans, the radiologist will compare old and new images side by side to track changes. This is standard practice in cancer monitoring and adds time to the interpretation. Scans ordered for complex cases, where abnormalities appear in multiple areas or findings are subtle, also require more careful analysis.
On the operational side, staffing plays a real role. Facilities dealing with staff turnover or high scan volumes may have a backlog. Incomplete or incorrect information on the original scan request can also cause delays, since the radiologist may need to follow up with your referring doctor before finalizing the report. Communication gaps between the radiology department and other clinical teams are one of the most common sources of slowdowns at hospitals.
What the Radiologist Is Actually Doing
Reading a PET scan is not a quick glance at a single image. The radiologist works through a structured process on a specialized workstation. Most PET scans today are combined with CT scans (called PET/CT), which means the radiologist is reviewing two sets of data and layering them together.
The process starts with reviewing the PET images alone, checking for areas of unusually high metabolic activity. The radiologist scrolls through the body in multiple planes: front to back, side to side, and top to bottom. Any suspicious areas are then cross-referenced with the CT images, where the radiologist switches between different display settings optimized for soft tissue, lung, and bone to pinpoint where an abnormality sits anatomically.
Only after reviewing the PET and CT images separately does the radiologist examine the fused images, where the metabolic data is overlaid on the anatomical CT. They also measure something called the SUV, a standardized number reflecting how actively a particular area is absorbing the radioactive tracer. Areas with low activity scores are less concerning, while very high scores (above 15 on the scale radiologists use) are flagged as highly suspicious. These numbers get documented in the report so your doctor has objective data, not just a subjective impression.
Checking Your Patient Portal
Under the 21st Century Cures Act, which took full effect in October 2022, healthcare providers in the U.S. are required to give patients access to their electronic health information, including radiology reports. In practice, this means your PET scan report may appear in your patient portal as soon as the radiologist finalizes it, sometimes before your doctor has had a chance to review it with you.
There are limited exceptions. If your doctor believes that releasing results before a conversation could cause harm, they can temporarily delay portal access under what’s called the “preventing harm” exception. Some states also have their own laws governing the release of medical results that may apply. But in most cases, you’ll see the written report in your portal within a few days of the scan, even if your follow-up appointment is scheduled later.
How to Get Results Faster
If timing matters to you, ask the imaging center before your scan how long their typical turnaround is. Some facilities offer expedited reads for urgent cases. You can also ask your referring doctor’s office to flag the report so they contact you as soon as it arrives rather than waiting for a scheduled visit. Signing up for your hospital’s patient portal, if you haven’t already, gives you the fastest possible access once the report is finalized.