title: Adverse functional effects of chemotherapy on whole-brain metabolism: a PET/CT quantitative analysis of FDG metabolic pattern of the "chemo-brain".
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  With its unique ability to assess function through metabolism, FDG PET may provide key insight into the adverse effects of chemotherapy on the brain by shedding light on its cognitive and psychological consequences, a well-known phenomenon in cancer patients who undergo such treatments.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one patients with untreated non-Hodgkin lymphoma and no involvement of the central nervous system were selected from an existing database for this investigation. An adaptive threshold imaging software called ROVER was used to analyze and quantify FDG PET scans for assessing whole-brain metabolism. A 3D spherical region of interest was drawn surrounding the cerebral cortex, excluding subcortical and non-cortical areas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We noted a mean reduction of 1308.86 ± 394.74 SUV-cc (P = 0.03) in the whole-brain cortical glycolysis after standard chemotherapy, which translated to a decrease of 16.9 ± 5.04% (P = 0.03) in the measured structures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate the potential role of such adaptive quantitative techniques in studying underlying biological effects of chemotherapy and offer a promising avenue for future research in this field.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sorokin
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saboury
authors.forename: JinHyung Albert
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Mateen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moghbel
authors.forename: Sandip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.forename: Abass
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alavi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18