11C-methionine uptake in cerebrovascular disease: a comparison with 18F-fDG PET and 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT.
OBJECTIVE
Carbon-11-L-methyl-methionine (11C-methionine) has been reported to be useful for evaluating brain tumors, but several other brain disorders have also shown signs of high methionine uptake. We retrospectively evaluated the significance of 11C-methionine uptake in cerebrovascular diseases, and also compared our results with those for 18F-FDG PET and 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT.


METHODS
Seven patients, including 3 patients with a cerebral hematoma and 4 patients with a cerebral infarction, were examined. All 7 patients underwent both 11C-methionine PET and 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT, and 6 of them underwent 18F-FDG PET.


RESULTS
A high 11C-methionine uptake was observed in all 3 patients with cerebral hematoma. Increased 99mTc-HMPAO uptake was observed in 2 out of 3 patients, and all 3 patients had decreased 18F-FDG uptake. Of 4 patients with a cerebral infarction, high 11C-methionine uptake was observed in 3. Increased 99mTc-HMPAO uptake was also observed in one patient, whereas 3 patients had decreased 18F-FDG uptake.


CONCLUSIONS
We should keep in mind that high 11C-methionine uptake is frequently observed in cerebrovascular diseases. CVD should therefore be included in the differential diagnosis when encounting patients with a high 11C-methionine uptake.
Nakagawa
Makoto
M
Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. nanchan-kyu@umin.ac.jp
Kuwabara
Yasuo
Y
Sasaki
Masayuki
M
Koga
Hirofumi
H
Chen
Tao
T
Kaneko
Ouichirou
O
Hayashi
Kazutaka
K
Morioka
Takato
T
Masuda
Kouji
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006406:Hematoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; C086242:carbon-11 methionine; D008715:Methionine