| J Nucl Med 1993 Nov;34(11):1892-1898 |
Clinical evaluation of interictal fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose PET in
partial epilepsy.
Henry TR, Engel J Jr, Mazziotta JC.
Interictal [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) is useful in
presurgical evaluation of medically refractory partial epilepsies. Limited replicability
of image interpretation may restrict this application. We investigated interpretation
replicability in 241 18F-FDG studies performed with three different tomographs in partial
epilepsy patients. Two investigators independently interpreted the studies with a
standardized evaluation protocol and without knowledge of the subjects. Replicability of
these unbiased interpretations in detection of regional hypometabolism was best for
studies performed with the highest performance tomograph. Interictal 18F-FDG studies
performed with this tomograph revealed regional hypometabolism in 62% of patients who had
normal cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Replicability of interpretations in
detecting regional hypometabolism was adequate for clinical application of interictal
18F-FDG studies performed with any of the tomographs.
