title: Imaging the epileptic brain with positron emission tomography.
abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) has an established role in the noninvasive localization of epileptic foci during presurgical evaluation. [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET is able to lateralize and regionalize potentially epileptogenic regions in patients who have normal MR imaging and is also useful in the evaluation of various childhood epilepsy syndromes, including cryptogenic infantile spasms and early Rasmussen's syndrome. Novel PET tracers that were developed to image neurotransmission related to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) [with [11C]flumazenil] and serotonin-mediated [with alpha-[11C]methyl-L-tryptophan (AMT)] function provide increased specificity for epileptogenic cortex and are particularly useful when FDG PET shows large abnormalities of glucose metabolism. Detailed comparisons of PET abnormalities with intracranial electroencephalographic findings also improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of human epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography Center, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, USA. juhasz@pet.wayne.edu
authors.forename: Csaba
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Juhász
authors.forename: Harry T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Chugani
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D005947:Glucose