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Evaluating Brain Death with Positron Emission Tomography: Case Report on Dynamic Imaging of 18 F‐Fluorodeoxyglucose Activity after Intravenous Bolus Injection
Author(s) -
Meyer Michael A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/jon199662117
Subject(s) - medicine , positron emission tomography , nuclear medicine , fluorodeoxyglucose , intravenous bolus , bolus (digestion) , radiology , anesthesia , surgery
A dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) study of the head was performed over 1 hour after the intravenous bolus administration of 18 F‐fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F‐FDG) to a 18‐year‐old patient with the clinical diagnosis of brain death. This dynamic PET study was performed on the seventh day after a severe posttraumatic closed‐head injury. No intracerebral uptake or retention of tracer was noted, consistent with a diffuse absence of brain metabolism. A small amount of tracer was noted to slowly rise over time within the sagittal sinus, indicating that visualization of sagittal sinuses on technetium 99m‐diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid planar images could provide a falsely negative scintigraphic evaluation for the presence of brain death. It is concluded that PET FDG imaging may be a useful technique in evaluating patients for brain death.