Open AccessUse of 99m-technetium-glucoheptonate as a tracer for brain tumor imaging: An overview of its strengths and pitfalls
Author(s) -
Amburanjan Santra,
Rakesh Kumar,
Punit Sharma
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
indian journal of nuclear medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.261
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 0972-3919
pISSN - 0974-0244
DOI - 10.4103/0972-3919.147525
Subject(s) - medicine , positron emission tomography , nuclear medicine , single photon emission computed tomography , context (archaeology) , magnetic resonance imaging , emission computed tomography , spect imaging , technetium 99m , neuroimaging , brain tumor , technetium , radiology , pathology , scintigraphy , paleontology , psychiatry , biology
Brain tumors represent a vexing clinical problem in oncology due to their increasing incidence, difficulties in treatment and high rates of recurrence. It is especially challenging to evaluate the posttreatment disease status because differentiation of recurrence from treatment-induced changes (radiation necrosis) is not possible with the use of magnetic resonance imaging, the most commonly used imaging method in this setting. Various functional imaging methods, including positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) have been employed in this context. SPECT with 99m-technetium (99mTc)-glucoheptonate (GHA) has shown promising results for differentiation of recurrent brain tumor from radiation necrosis. In this review, we have discussed in details the basics of 99mTc-GHA SPECT imaging in brain tumor along with the available literature in this regard.