Focal cortical dysplasia: comparison of MRI and FDG-PET.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to compare the use of MRI and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in the diagnosis of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD).


METHODS
Nineteen patients with surgically proven FCD were analyzed retrospectively. MRI was performed in all patients, and FDG-PET was performed in 17 patients. We compared the MR and FDG-PET findings of FCD according to the histologic findings that were classified into three grades.


RESULTS
Four cases were classified as Grade I, 4 cases as Grade II, and 11 cases as Grade III FCD. The lesions were detected on MRI in 9 (82%) of the 11 patients with Grade III FCD and in only 1 (13%) of the 8 patients with Grade I and II FCD. Cortical hypometabolism of the lesion was revealed on FDG-PET in 6 (86%) of the 7 patients with Grade I and II FCD and in 9 (90%) of the 10 patients with Grade III FCD. The extent of the cortical abnormality was larger on FDG-PET than on MRI in 11 (65%) of the 17 patients.


CONCLUSIONS
FDG-PET is more useful in delineating the cortical abnormality in patients with mild degrees of FCD. The extent of the lesion was larger or similar on FDG-PET compared with that of the MRI.
Kim
S K
SK
Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Na
D G
DG
Byun
H S
HS
Kim
S E
SE
Suh
Y L
YL
Choi
J Y
JY
Yoon
H K
HK
Han
B K
BK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18