PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lilja, A
AU  - Bergström, K
AU  - Hartvig, P
AU  - Spännare, B
AU  - Halldin, C
AU  - Lundqvist, H
AU  - Långstrom, B
TI  - Dynamic study of supratentorial gliomas with L-methyl-11C-methionine and positron emission tomography.
DP  - 1985 Jul 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 505--514
VI  - 6
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/6/4/505.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/6/4/505.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.1985 Jul 01; 6
AB  - The regional kinetics of intravenously injected L-methyl-11C-methionine (11C-L-methionine) in the brain was investigated by positron emission tomography (PET) in 14 patients with gliomas. In both tumor and unaffected brain the tracer uptake reached a nearly constant level in 5 min or less. The ratio between the uptake of 11C-L-methionine by high-grade tumors and the uptake by unaffected brain was 1.9-4.8. In two cases of low-grade astrocytoma the ratio was 0.8-1.0. High uptakes of 11C-L-methionine occurred in gliomas even in the absence of blood-brain barrier defects as observed by other methods. This indicates that besides active transport of amino acid, a larger extracellular space in tumor as compared with unaffected brain tissue may also contribute to the increased uptake of 11C-L-methionine--derived radioactivity. In some patients delineation of the tumors was improved by use of PET with 11C-L-methionine as compared with computed tomography, angiography, and, in some instances, PET with 68Ga-EDTA. PET with 11C-L-methionine permits better evaluation of the tumor extent and may affect preoperative grading.