Language mapping in pretreatment planning of patients with cerebral arteriovenous malformation: a PET study.
OBJECTIVE
Three patients who had cerebral arteriovenous malformations underwent language mapping by positron emission tomography (PET) to identify the dominant hemisphere for language and the spatial relation of lesions to language areas.


METHODS
Mapping was performed to assess the risk that surgery could cause neurologic deficits and to plan other therapeutic strategies.


RESULTS
The information obtained by PET language mapping changed the course of management for these patients. Two patients were treated with stereotactic radiosurgery and one patient with surgical resection.


CONCLUSIONS
PET imaging can be a valuable noninvasive tool for mapping the functional cortex and for preoperative planning of different treatment options in patients with arteriovenous malformations.
Tatlidil
R
R
Research Imaging Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, USA.
Xiong
J
J
New
P
P
West
A
A
Fox
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D002538:Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D016634:Radiosurgery; D012307:Risk Factors; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed