PET and SPECT in low-grade glioma

Low-grade gliomas (LGG) account for 30-40% of all gliomas and are primarily treated with surgery. Since both timing and use of other oncological treatments in LGG are a matter of controversy, there has been a constantly increasing demand to characterize these often slowly growing neoplasms with functional imaging methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). PET and SPECT yield information on growth rate and heterogeneity of LGG and are especially useful in follow-up since metabolic changes tend to precede structural changes detected with structure-based imaging methods. Furthermore, for planning of LGG surgery or radiotherapy coregistration of functional images with CT and MRI is invaluable. This is increasingly performed with a new generation of hybrid scanners with integrated PET or SPECT and CT. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.