Abstract
2647
Introduction: Epilepsy affects approximately 1% of children in the United States. Nearly three quarters of those children will become seizure free with anti-convulsant medications. It is the remaining one third to one quarter of patients who become intractable and may require surgical intervention. Prior to surgery, full investigation with interictal FDG PET, Ictal-Interictal SPECT/CT, functional MRI and/or magnetoencephalography is performed to ensure the best outcome. Interpretation of interictal FDG PET in children can be difficult because of the changing pattern of uptake related to brain maturation. We will present a pictorial review of normal patterns of FDG uptake in the brain from infancy to adolescence.
Methods: Brain FDG PET/CT with characteristic normal patterns according to age will be shown. Charts were reviewed for correlation with patient’s demographics, clinical and surgical findings. Images were retrieved from the hospitals PACS system, anonymized, and presented in this report for educational purposes.
Results: Results from PACS query identified brain FDG PET images from infants and teenagers with non-localizing findings described as normal without associated anatomical abnormality. See images.
Conclusions: Increasing versatility of molecular imaging with FDG PET/CT provides great benefit for the assessment of Epilepsy. Recognition of the characteristic imaging patterns of uptake related to brain maturation is essential for appropriate image interpretation. There is potential to combine some of these modalities with MRI when PET/MRI becomes widely available in clinical practice.