EXPLORER is a total-body PET scanner designed to image radiotracer activity throughout the body in a single bed position. Its commercial version, uEXPLORER, combines PET with CT. The design can support faster scans, lower radiotracer activity or more detailed images, depending on the scan protocol; it is not a general-purpose whole-body health screening machine, and technical capability alone does not establish better patient outcomes.
What EXPLORER is—and what “full-body” means
PET, or positron emission tomography, detects radiotracers introduced into the body to show where they travel or accumulate. Conventional PET/CT systems generally image the body in successive bed positions. EXPLORER’s defining feature is its long axial field of view: it can capture the body in one bed position, allowing radiotracer activity across multiple organs to be observed together and over time.
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“Full-body” refers to imaging coverage, not a scan that checks every organ for every disease or provides a general health diagnosis. The commercial uEXPLORER is a PET/CT system developed with United Imaging Healthcare and researchers at the University of California, Davis.
Why the images drew attention
UC Davis researchers Ramsey Badawi and Simon Cherry developed EXPLORER. The first human images were reported in November 2018, ahead of a presentation scheduled for the Radiological Society of North America meeting. Badawi described the level of detail in those early images as “astonishing” after the image-reconstruction method was optimized, as quoted by Sky News.
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The unusual feature was not simply that a PET image could look detailed. With a long field of view, the system can record tracer distribution across the body at once, which is useful for studying how substances move between organs and change over time. UC Davis describes research applications including cancer, blood flow, inflammation, immune and metabolic disorders, infection, cardiovascular disease and brain conditions.
What the specifications say
United Imaging lists the uEXPLORER’s following specifications on its product page. These are manufacturer figures, not an independent comparison of clinical performance:
| Specification | Manufacturer-listed value | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| Axial PET field of view | 194 cm | The length of the body covered along the scanner’s axis. |
| NEMA spatial resolution | 2.9 mm | A resolution specification measured under the applicable NEMA test conditions; it does not guarantee that every scan resolves structures of that size. |
| Sensitivity | Up to 176 cps/kBq | Detected counts per second per unit of tracer activity, as stated by the manufacturer. |
| Comparison with conventional PET/CT sensitivity | Up to 40 times | The manufacturer’s sensitivity comparison; it does not mean scans are 40 times faster or that radiation exposure is automatically reduced by that factor. |
United Imaging also says the system can image the entire body in as little as 30 seconds at standard dose. That is a manufacturer acquisition claim, not a promise that every examination takes 30 seconds or that a short acquisition is appropriate for every diagnostic question. See United Imaging’s uEXPLORER specifications.
Does EXPLORER reduce radiation dose or scan time?
It can enable those choices, but it does not dictate them. Higher sensitivity means the scanner can collect more useful signal from a given amount of radiotracer. A clinical team may use that capability to shorten acquisition, reduce tracer activity, improve image quality, or combine those advantages to some degree. The balance depends on the purpose of the scan, the protocol and the patient.
In the 2018 report, Cherry emphasized that the trade-off among image quality, acquisition time and injected tracer dose varies by application. Accordingly, “40 times the sensitivity” should not be read as “40 times less radiation,” “40 times faster,” or a guaranteed dose reduction. PET/CT also includes a CT component, so the radiation exposure of an examination depends on the full protocol, not PET sensitivity alone.
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What it is used for now
UC Davis Health says its uEXPLORER is in clinical use at its health system and available to its patients, alongside ongoing research. The UC Davis EXPLORER program reports an average of about 40 high-quality PET scans per week; that is the program’s own operational figure. It indicates activity at that institution, not widespread availability elsewhere. UC Davis also reported in April 2025 that researchers were using total-body PET to study how cancer, neurodegenerative disease and other systemic diseases affect the brain.
UC Davis Health describes its scanner as the first and only total-body PET scanner approved by the FDA in the United States. That institutional description does not, by itself, establish that every proposed research use is an approved indication or standard care. Approval and clinical use should be understood in relation to the particular device and application. More on the center’s system and research is available from UC Davis Health, the UC Davis Radiology research page and the EXPLORER program.
What the evidence does—and does not—show
EXPLORER demonstrates a technical capability: unusually broad PET coverage and high sensitivity that can give researchers and clinicians more options for imaging. The sources describing the system do not establish across-the-board improvements in diagnosis, survival or other patient outcomes, nor do they show that it replaces conventional PET/CT. Those are separate questions that require evidence for each disease, scan protocol and clinical use.
For readers, the practical distinction is straightforward: EXPLORER’s full-body images can help answer research and clinical questions about tracer movement across the body, but the scanner’s technical specifications are not proof that it is the right test for everyone or a substitute for a clinician’s recommended imaging plan.
