title: PET and SPECT in low-grade glioma.
abstract: Low-grade gliomas (LGG) account for 30-40% of all gliomas and are primarily treated with surgery. Since both timing and use of other oncological treatments in LGG are a matter of controversy, there has been a constantly increasing demand to characterize these often slowly growing neoplasms with functional imaging methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). PET and SPECT yield information on growth rate and heterogeneity of LGG and are especially useful in follow-up since metabolic changes tend to precede structural changes detected with structure-based imaging methods. Furthermore, for planning of LGG surgery or radiotherapy coregistration of functional images with CT and MRI is invaluable. This is increasingly performed with a new generation of hybrid scanners with integrated PET or SPECT and CT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Turku PET Centre, Turku University Central Hospital, PO Box 52, FIN-20521 Turku, Finland. heikki.minn@utu.fi
authors.forename: Heikki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minn
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals