Brain ischemia and infarction positively visualized by pyruvate-1-11C using positron-emission tomography.
We describe positron-emission tomography (PET) scintigraphic findings obtained using pyruvate-1-11C in eight patients with cerebral ischemic hypoxia or infarction. The extraction of 11C by brain tissue from blood after an i.v. injection of 11C-pyruvate was very rapid, being almost complete after a single circulatory passage. Most ischemic lesions were found to be more or less deficient with regard to 11C-extraction capacity. With time, however, the ratio of 11C in ischemic tissue to that in normal tissue was inverted, and the ischemic lesion appeared as a 'hot' area in the scintigram. Very old infarcts did not exhibit this phenomenon. These observations indicate the usefulness of an 11C-pyruvate PET scan for the diagnosis of therapeutically restorable brain damage.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011773:Pyruvates; D019289:Pyruvic Acid; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D011773:Pyruvates; D019289:Pyruvic Acid