Onkológia 3/2010

Experience with the use of 18FDG PET in differential diagnosis of low-grade and high-grade gliomas

Positron emission tomography with 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18FDG PET) allows imaging of tumour and inflammatory processes on an assessment of glucose metabolism. It shows the degree of difference between tumour and healthy brain tissue in brain gliomas and is therefore an indicator of the tumour grade. We present the results of the initial (preoperative) examination in 62 patients with brain glioma, who were examined at our clinic of nuclear medicine in Bratislava using two-phase 18FDG PET with visual and semi-quantitative evaluation in the years 2004 to 2008. Comparing our findings with definitive histopathological results (WHO grade), we tried to verify the accuracy of our methodology in differentiation between low-grade and high-grade glioma.

Keywords: PET, 18FDG, SUV, low-grade glioma, high-grade glioma.