OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to discuss and show examples of the PET appearance of common brain abnormalities that radiologists encounter when interpreting whole-body 18F-FDG PET examinations of cancer patients. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of the PET appearance of various brain abnormalities can yield diagnostically relevant information in cancer patients. Detection of brain abnormalities on whole-body PET often requires adjusting window settings to reduce the intensity of normal brain FDG activity. Often, close correlation of PET/CT and MRI with clinical history offers the most complete radiologic diagnosis.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to discuss and show examples of the PET appearance of common brain abnormalities that radiologists encounter when interpreting whole-body 18F-FDG PET examinations of cancerpatients. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of the PET appearance of various brain abnormalities can yield diagnostically relevant information in cancerpatients. Detection of brain abnormalities on whole-body PET often requires adjusting window settings to reduce the intensity of normal brain FDG activity. Often, close correlation of PET/CT and MRI with clinical history offers the most complete radiologic diagnosis.