title: PET and SPECT studies in children with hemispheric low-grade gliomas.
abstract: Molecular imaging is playing an increasing role in the pretreatment evaluation of low-grade gliomas. While glucose positron emission tomography (PET) can be helpful to differentiate low-grade from high-grade tumors, PET imaging with amino acid radiotracers has several advantages, such as better differentiation between tumors and non-tumorous lesions, optimized biopsy targeting, and improved detection of tumor recurrence. This review provides a brief overview of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies followed by a more detailed review of the clinical applications of glucose and amino acid PET imaging in low-grade hemispheric gliomas. We discuss key differences in the performance of the most commonly utilized PET radiotracers and highlight the advantage of PET/MRI fusion to obtain optimal information about tumor extent, heterogeneity, and metabolism. Recent data also suggest that simultaneous acquisition of PET/MR images and the combination of advanced MRI techniques with quantitative PET can further improve the pretreatment and post-treatment evaluation of pediatric brain tumors.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA. juhasz@pet.wayne.edu.|Departments of Neurology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA. juhasz@pet.wayne.edu.|PET Center and Translational Imaging Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 3901 Beaubien Street, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA. juhasz@pet.wayne.edu.|Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, MI, USA. juhasz@pet.wayne.edu.
authors.forename: Csaba
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Juhász
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.|PET Center and Translational Imaging Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 3901 Beaubien Street, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA.
authors.forename: Edit
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bosnyák
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
keywords: Amino acid; Glucose; Low-grade; MRI; Pediatric glioma; Positron emission tomography