carbon-11-methionine and Necrosis

Differentiating recurrent brain tumor from radiation necrosis is often difficult. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of 11C-methionine (MET)-PET radiomics for distinguishing recurrent brain tumor from radiation necrosis, as compared with conventional tumor-to-normal cortex (T/N) ratio evaluation. We enrolled 41 patients with metastatic brain tumor or glioma treated using radiation therapy who underwent MET-PET. The area with a standardized uptake value > 1.3 times that of the normal brain cortex was contoured. Forty-two PET features were extracted and used in a random forest classifier and the diagnostic performance was evaluated using a 10-fold cross-validation scheme. Gini index was measured to identify relevant PET parameters for classification. The reference standard was surgical histopathological analysis or more than 6 months of follow-up with MRI. Forty-four lesions were used for the analysis. Thirty-three and 11 lesions were confirmed as recurrent brain tumor and radiation necrosis, respectively. Radiomics and T/N ratio evaluation showed sensitivities of 90.1% and 60.6%, and specificities of 93.9% and 72.7% with areas under the curve of 0.98 and 0.73, respectively. Gray level co-occurrence matrix dissimilarity was the most pertinent feature for diagnosis. MET-PET radiomics yielded excellent outcome for differentiating recurrent brain tumor from radiation necrosis, which outperformed T/N ratio evaluation.

Topics: Algorithms; Brain Neoplasms; Breast; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Male; Methionine; Middle Aged; Necrosis; Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; Radiation Injuries; Recurrence

Following stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), we examined how to differentiate radiation necrosis from recurrent malignant glioma using positron emission tomography (PET) with 11C-methionine (Met).. Met-PET scans were obtained from 11 adult cases of recurrent malignant glioma or radiation injury, suspected on the basis of magnetic resonance images (MRI). Patients had previously been treated with SRS after primary treatment. PET images were obtained as a static scan of 10 minutes performed 20 minutes after injection of Met. We defined two visual grades (e.g., positive or negative Met accumulation). On Met-PET scans, the portion of the tumor with the highest accumulation was selected as the region of interest (ROI), tumor-versus-normal ratio (TN) was defined as the ratio of average radioisotope counts per pixel in the tumor (T), divided by average counts per pixel in normal gray matter (N). The standardized uptake value (SUV) was calculated over the same tumor ROI. Met-PET scan accuracy was evaluated by correlating findings with subsequent histological analysis (8 cases) or, in cases without surgery or biopsy, by the subsequent clinical course and MR findings (3 cases).. Histological examinations in 8 cases showed viable glioma cells with necrosis in 6 cases, and necrosis without viable tumor cells in 2 cases. Three other cases were considered to have radiation necrosis because they exhibited stable neurological symptoms with no sign of massive enlargement of the lesion on follow-up MR after 5 months. Mean TN was 1.31 in the radiation necrosis group (5 cases) and 1.87 in the tumor recurrence group (6 cases). Mean SUV was 1.81 in the necrosis group and 2.44 in the recurrence group. There were no statistically significant differences between the recurrence and necrosis groups in TN or SUV. Furthermore, we made a 2 x 2 factorial cross table (accumulation or no accumulation, recurrence or necrosis). From this result, the Met-PET sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in detecting tumor recurrence were determined to be 100%, 60%, and 82% respectively. In a false positive-case, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunostaining showed a positive finding.. There were no significant differences between recurrent malignant glioma and radiation necrosis following SRS in Met-PET. However, this study shows Met-PET has a sensitivity and accuracy for differentiating between recurrent glioma and necrosis, and presents important information for developing treatment strategies against post radiation reactions.

Topics: Adult; Brain; Brain Neoplasms; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Glioma; Humans; Male; Methionine; Middle Aged; Necrosis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Positron-Emission Tomography; Radiation Injuries; Radiopharmaceuticals; Radiosurgery; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity

(11)C-Methionine positron emission tomography (MET-PET) has been used to distinguish brain tumor recurrence from radiation necrosis. Because the spatial resolution of conventional PET scanners is low, partial volume effect (PVE) may decrease the detectability of small tumor recurrence. The aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic value of MET-PET upon semiquantitative analyses in particular PVE-affected small lesions.. First, we performed a phantom experiment to investigate what size lesion is affected by PVE. This study included 29 patients (33 lesions) suspected of recurrent brain tumors by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after radiation therapy. All of them received MET-PET. Semiquantitative analysis was performed using maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and lesion-versus-normal ratio (L/N ratio). ROC analysis was also assessed about the diagnostic value of MET-PET.. From the result of the phantom experiment, lesions smaller than 20 mm in brain mode or smaller than 30 mm in whole-body mode were defined as PVE-affected lesions. Histological analysis or clinical follow-up confirmed the diagnosis of tumor recurrence in 22 lesions, and radiation necrosis in 11 lesions. L/N ratios of recurrence and necrosis for overall lesions were 1.98 ± 0.62 and 1.27 ± 0.28, respectively (p < 0.01). In the PVE-affected lesions, L/N ratio for recurrence (1.72 ± 0.44) was also significantly higher than that for necrosis (1.20 ± 0.11) (p < 0.01). On the ROC analysis for the PVE-affected lesions, the area under the curve for L/N ratio (0.897) was significantly higher than that for SUVmax (0.718) (p < 0.05). These areas under the curve were almost equal to that of overall lesions for L/N ratio (0.886) and for SUVmax (0.738).. Semiquantitative analysis of MET provided high diagnostic value even for PVE-affected small lesions. MET-PET enables early diagnosis of recurrence of brain tumor in the follow-up after the radiation therapy.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Brain; Brain Neoplasms; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Humans; Male; Methionine; Middle Aged; Necrosis; Phantoms, Imaging; Positron-Emission Tomography; Radiation Injuries; Recurrence; Retrospective Studies; Tumor Burden; Young Adult

We report a case of high uptake of 11C-methionine (MET), 18F-FDG (FDG) and 201Tl-Cl (Tl) in brain radiation necrosis. Twenty-one years previously, the patient had undergone surgery and radiation therapy consisting of 60-Gy for ependymoma in the anterior horn of the right lateral ventricle. The clinical features consisting of frequent seizures of the left face and arm suddenly appeared 2 wk before admission. MRI depicted a Tl and T2-prolonged lesion in the right frontal lobe. Abnormally high uptake in this area demonstrated by MET-PET, FDG-PET, Tl-SPECT or HMPAO-SPECT suggested the presence of a recurrent tumor. A craniotomy was then performed and an intraoperative electrocorticogram showed continuous epileptic spikes in the lesion. The epileptic foci were resected and the histological features of the lesion were consistent with radiation necrosis. After surgery, the seizures disappeared and the postoperative examinations with MET-PET, FDG-PET, Tl-SPECT and HM-PAO-SPECT no longer showed abnormally high uptake. Hypermetabolism and hyperperfusion related to epileptic fits are therefore thought to result in high uptake of MET, FDG and Tl in radiation necrosis.

Topics: Adult; Brain; Brain Neoplasms; Deoxyglucose; Ependymoma; Epilepsy, Frontal Lobe; Female; Fluorine Radioisotopes; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Humans; Methionine; Necrosis; Organotechnetium Compounds; Oximes; Radiation Injuries; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; Thallium Radioisotopes; Time Factors; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon