Value of 11C-methionine PET/CT imaging in diagnosing cerebral glioma

Cerebral glioma is the most common primary brain tumor with high rates of mortality and morbidity. Conventional imaging methods demonstrate some limitations in preoperative grading, prognostic evaluation, and differentiation between tumor recurrence and radiation necrosis for patients with cerebral gliomas. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is an ideal imaging tool for noninvasive examination of underlying tumor biology. Recently, various molecular imaging pathways and tracers for the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of gliomas have been studied. 11C-methionine (11C-MET) PET/CT provides various advantages in diagnosing primary gliomas. These benefits include accurate diagnosis, grading, prognosis, assessment of tumor extent, biopsy, radiotherapy planning, and differentiation between radiation necrosis and tumor recurrence. This article provides an overview of the current application of 11C-MET PET/CT in the diagnosis of cerebral gliomas. Key words: Glioma; 11C-Methionine; Positron-emission tomography; Tomography X-ray computed; Radioactive tracers; molecular imaging