Positron Emission Tomography Scan (PET Scan)

TRICARE covers PET scans for the following:

• Diagnosis and management of seizure disorders
• Evaluation of ischemic heart disease
• Diagnosis, staging, restaging, and monitoring of treatment of pancreatic cancer
• Staging and restaging of differentiated (follicular, papillary, Hurthle cell) thyroid cancer
• Ruling out the recurrence of ovarian cancer
• Staging, restaging, and detection of recurrence of colorectal cancer
• Metastatic bladder cancer
• Diagnosis and management of lung cancer, when documented by reliable evidence as safe, effective, comparable, or superior to standard care
• Diagnosis, staging, and monitoring of treatment of lymphoma
• Diagnosis, staging, restaging, and monitoring of oncologic indications, when supported by National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical practice guidelines

TRICARE doesn’t cover PET scans for:

• The initial diagnosis of differentiated thyroid cancer and for medullary cell thyroid cancer
• Diagnosis, staging, restaging, and monitoring of treatment of gastric cancer
• Initial diagnosis, staging, and monitoring of treatment of ovarian cancer
• Initial diagnosis and monitoring of treatment of colorectal cancer
• Diagnosis of renal mass or renal cell carcinoma recurrence
• Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and other types of dementia
• Ultrasound ablation (destruction of uterine fibroids) with MRI in the treatment of uterine leiomyomata