Non ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET imaging of brain tumors

Due to the high uptake of the (¹⁸F-fluoroleoxyjlucose,¹⁸F-FDG) in brain cortex, the conventional way of PET imaging for the brain tumors has been limited, especially when the tumor is of low WHO grade. Lately, some more specific PET imaging agents (¹¹C-methionine,¹¹C-choline,¹⁸F-fluorothymidine, etc.) have been developed and are being applied to the PET imaging of brain tumors. The common advantages of these new agents are low background uptake, high contrast of tumor imaging and higher sensitivity for low-grade gliomas. These new agents are expected to make better application in diagnosis, differential diagnosis, planning of radiotherapy and treatment effectiveness monitering of brain tumors than ¹⁸F-FDG. This article will make a brief introduction of the application of these non-¹⁸F-FDG agents in aspects mentioned above.