Temporal Lobe Hypometabolism Ipsilateral to a Hypothalamic Mass. Relationship to Gelastic Seizures.
The purpose of this study was to investigate metabolic changes associated with a right hypothalamic mass in a 26-year-old gelastic seizure patient. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the brain was performed in the interictal state using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) in this patient. Temporal lobe hypometabolism was noted ipsilateral to the hypothalamic lesion. The mass itself had little to no uptake of 18F-FDG. This is the first known PET imaging report of temporal lobe hypometabolism ipsilateral to a presumed hypothalamic hamartoma causing gelastic seizures. Further studies are needed in other patients to test whether interictal PET imaging may help plan the removal of epileptogenic hypothalamic lesions.
Meyer
MA
Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN, USA