Dynamic study of supratentorial gliomas with L-methyl-11C-methionine and positron emission tomography.
The regional kinetics of intravenously injected L-methyl-11C-methionine (11C-L-methionine) in the brain was investigated by positron emission tomography (PET) in 14 patients with gliomas. In both tumor and unaffected brain the tracer uptake reached a nearly constant level in 5 min or less. The ratio between the uptake of 11C-L-methionine by high-grade tumors and the uptake by unaffected brain was 1.9-4.8. In two cases of low-grade astrocytoma the ratio was 0.8-1.0. High uptakes of 11C-L-methionine occurred in gliomas even in the absence of blood-brain barrier defects as observed by other methods. This indicates that besides active transport of amino acid, a larger extracellular space in tumor as compared with unaffected brain tissue may also contribute to the increased uptake of 11C-L-methionine--derived radioactivity. In some patients delineation of the tumors was improved by use of PET with 11C-L-methionine as compared with computed tomography, angiography, and, in some instances, PET with 68Ga-EDTA. PET with 11C-L-methionine permits better evaluation of the tumor extent and may affect preoperative grading.
Lilja
A
A
Bergström
K
K
Hartvig
P
P
Spännare
B
B
Halldin
C
C
Lundqvist
H
H
Långstrom
B
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D004492:Edetic Acid; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D004492:Edetic Acid; D008715:Methionine; C038344:methionine methyl ester