A patient with newly diagnosed lymphoma starts chemotherapy next week, and FDG PET/CT is scheduled to stage disease beforehand. Department policy requires metabolic checks before the injection, a set waiting period afterward, and coverage from the base of the skull through the upper legs with the arms kept out of the chest images. Which preparation and acquisition sequence should the technologist follow?

FDG competes with glucose, so the patient arrives fasted with a blood glucose inside the department's criteria and the value is documented before injection, because a high glucose saturates transporters and dulls uptake. After injection the tracer needs a defined uptake period to be phosphorylated and trapped inside cells, and imaging that begins immediately samples a distribution that is still changing. Coverage from the base of the skull through the upper legs includes the cervical, thoracic, abdominal and pelvic node chains the oncologist needs staged, and raising the arms keeps shoulders and arms out of the chest field so attenuation and streak artifact do not hide nodal disease. Starting the scan right after injection follows the immediate-acquisition habit and skips the waiting requirement. Checking fasting status alone follows the patient-prep habit but leaves the glucose value unconfirmed, so the metabolic check is incomplete. Lowering the arms follows the comfort-first approach and satisfies prep and timing yet puts exactly the structures of interest behind artifact. Exam caveat: uptake times and glucose criteria live in each department's written procedure, so anchor on the principle rather than a memorized number. Practical check: verify the recorded glucose, note the injection time, and confirm arm position before the table moves.