title: The role of scintigraphy in the evaluation of brain malignancies.
abstract: The gold standard for diagnosis of primary brain tumors is histopathological evaluation of the obtained tissue samples. Nevertheless, anatomical and functional imaging modalities have a determinative role in the precise localization and characterization of these lesions. In this review we focus on the clinical applications and future potentials of nuclear medicine procedures. Several single photon emission tomography (SPET) tracers such as thallium-201 chloride ((201)TlCl(2)), technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI), (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin (TF) and 3-[iodine-123] iodo-α- methyl-L-tyrosine ((123)I-IMT) have been utilized in the diagnosis of brain tumors. Positron emission tomography (PET) alone or fused with computed tomography (CT), are widely acceptable methods in oncology, at present and for the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Heraklion, P.O Box 1352, 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece. mariast@cha.forthnet.gr
authors.forename: Maria I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Stathaki
authors.forename: Sophia I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Koukouraki
authors.forename: Nikolaos S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Karkavitsas
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon