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PET imaging in pediatric neuroradiology: current and future applications

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Abstract

Molecular imaging with positron emitting tomography (PET) is widely accepted as an essential part of the diagnosis and evaluation of neoplastic and non-neoplastic disease processes. PET has expanded its role from the research domain into clinical application for oncology, cardiology and neuropsychiatry. More recently, PET is being used as a clinical molecular imaging tool in pediatric neuroimaging. PET is considered an accurate and noninvasive method to study brain activity and to understand pediatric neurological disease processes. In this review, specific examples of the clinical use of PET are given with respect to pediatric neuroimaging. The current use of co-registration of PET with MR imaging is exemplified in regard to pediatric epilepsy. The current use of PET/CT in the evaluation of head and neck lymphoma and pediatric brain tumors is also reviewed. Emerging technologies including PET/MRI and neuroreceptor imaging are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Children’s Hospital Drive, 45th Street and Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15201, USA

    Sunhee Kim & Ashok Panigrahy

  2. Department of Radiology, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Noriko Salamon

  3. Department of Radiology, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Hollie A. Jackson, Stefan Blüml & Ashok Panigrahy

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  1. Sunhee Kim
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  2. Noriko Salamon
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Correspondence to Ashok Panigrahy.

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Kim, S., Salamon, N., Jackson, H.A. et al. PET imaging in pediatric neuroradiology: current and future applications. Pediatr Radiol 40, 82–96 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-009-1457-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-009-1457-5

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