title: Functional brain imaging in pediatrics.
abstract: With the development of noninvasive tomographic imaging techniques, it is now possible to measure local chemical and physiologic functions in various body organs. Studies of local cerebral glucose metabolism in infants and children using positron emission tomography (PET) have provided important information on human brain functional development and plasticity. The clinical application of functional neuroimaging techniques in the management of pediatric neurologic disorders has yielded encouraging results. In children with intractable epilepsy being considered for surgical intervention, PET is highly sensitive in localizing focal areas of cortical dysplasia, heterotopias, and other migrational defects corresponding to surface electrographic localization of epileptogenic regions. Expanding PET technology provides a new approach that holds great promise in the diagnosis and management of brain disorders in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of California, School of Medicine, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Chugani
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012640:Seizures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013341:Sturge-Weber Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013577:Syndrome; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000639:trends; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D005947:Glucose