Brain fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18FDG PET) in patients with acute thallium intoxication

Objective. Thallium toxicity induces cellular injury through impaired Na-K-ATPase activity. The aim of this study was to investigate functional imaging and the long-term clinical-imaging correlations of thallium toxicity. Materials and methods. We measured thallium concentrations in blood, urine, stools, and hair of a 48-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man (patients 1 and 2) in the first 3 months after exposure to thallium containing water, and studied their neuropsychological functions. Using fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18FDG PET) scans, we examined the brain involvement and correlated the image findings with the clinical presentations. Results. On the 1st, 30th, and 61st days after exposure, the thallium concentrations in patient 1 were 2056, 311, and 7.5 μg/L in the blood, and 11400, 4570, and 36.4 μg/L in the urine. The concentrations in patient 2 were 956, 235, and 15.6 μg/L in the blood, and 11900, 2670, and 101 μg/L in the urine. On the 40th, 50th and 89th days after exposure,...