Evaluation of the Use of Carbon-11 Methionine PET Scans in Pediatric Patients With Craniopharyngioma

Abstract

The most commonly used tracer for PET imaging is fluorine-18 (F-18) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Its use is limited in the detection and evaluation of brain tumors due to the high basal activity of the cerebral cortex and white matter. Carbon-11 (C-11) methionine (MET) has little uptake under normal conditions in the brain. This allows for slight elevations in MET uptake to be more readily detected, making it an attractive PET tracer for the evaluation of brain tumors. We investigated the uptake of C-11 MET PET in patients with craniopharyngioma prior to proton therapy.