You will need to have several tests to help your doctor diagnose NET.

These include:

Blood and urine tests
Your blood and urine will be tested to see if the cancer is producing certain chemicals and hormones.

You may be asked not to eat for at least eight hours before your blood test. The test results are most reliable when you have fasted.

For the urine tests, certain foods contain substances that can interfere with the results, so you will be asked to avoid these foods while the urine is being collected. Urine is collected over a period of several hours.

Your samples will be sent to a specialist laboratory and it may take several weeks for the results to come back.

Computerised tomography (CT or CAT scan)
This is a type of X-ray that creates a picture of the inside of the body. You lie on a couch while it passes through a large, hollow ring.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MR or MRI scan)
This is like a CT scan but it uses a magnet and radio waves, not X-rays, to make the picture. You lie on a couch inside a long chamber while the pictures are taken.

Ultrasound scan
This test uses sound waves to build a picture of the inside of the body. You lie on your back while a device like a microphone is passed over the skin. The sound waves make pictures of your internal organs on a computer screen.

Octreoscan
For this test, a machine called a gamma camera takes pictures of the body. Beforehand a tiny amount of radioactive substance is injected into a vein. This helps to make a better picture. The scan can help us to see where the NET is, and whether it has spread.

MIBG scan
This is similar to an octreotide scan, but a different chemical is injected, called MIBG. Some NETs concentrate MIBG and if so, MIBG can be used for treatment.

Biopsy
In some cases the doctor may need to take a small sample of tissue from the area where s/he thinks the cancer is (the liver, for example). This is usually done by putting a fine needle through the skin and into the suspected tumour. The sample is then sent to the laboratory to be looked at under a microscope.

Related links
CT - general
MRI scan - general
Ultrasound scan - general
Biopsy - general