Imaging the Brain with PET

This is another extensive chapter in understanding all the aspects of brain imaging and its related disease. For this reason I am asking you to focus on the following objectives.

  1. Identify the acquisition process with imaging the brain (all that happens before the patient gets on the table, issues related to acquisition, setting up the head, and acquiring data)
  2. Overall concept of how FDG can actually visualize tumor and infection. Consider the amount of tumor uptake and how much activity is picked up by gray and white matter (BKG).
    1. Sometimes tumor can blend into brain tissue, it all depends on how metabolically active the tumor is.
    2. Infection - Delayed imaging will be able to determine if you are looking at tumor vs infection
  3. Epilepsy - what is the role of FDG PET?
  4. Dementia - consider the role of FDG as it define the presences of AD.
  5. Extrapyramidal disorders - most important PD
    1. Understand the terms up and down regulation
    2. How does 18F-DOPA interact with disease
  6. CVA and related have reduced FDG uptake
  7. Types of brain cancer - most important, consider tumor uptake based metabolic rate

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