A PET-MRI Case of Corticocerebellar Diaschisis After Stroke

Crossed Cerebellar Diaschisis: Three Case Reports Imaging Using a Tri-Modality PET/CT-MR System

Crossed cerebellar diaschisis (CCD) describes a depression of oxidative metabolism glucose and blood flow in the cerebellum secondary to a supratentorial lesion in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. PET/MR has the potential to become a powerful tool for demonstrating and imaging intracranial lesions .We herein report 3 cases of CCD imaging using a tri-modality PET/CT-MR set-up for investigating the value of adding MRI rather than CT to PET in clinical routine.We describe 3 patients with CCD and neurological symptoms in conjunction with abnormal cerebral fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography-magnetic resonance imaging (PET/CT-MR) manifestations including arterial spin-labeling (ASL) and T2-weighted images. In all, 18FDG-PET/CT detected positive FDG uptake in supratentorial lesions, and hypometabolism with atrophy in the contralateral cerebellum. More than that, hybrid PET/MRI provided a more accurate anatomic localization and ASL indicated disruption of the cortico-ponto-cerebellar pathway.Using pathology or long-term clinical follow-up to confirm the PET and ASL findings, the supratentorial lesions of the 3 patients were respectively diagnosed with cerebral infarction, recurrent glioma, and metastasis.The reports emphasize the significance of multimodality radiological examinations. Multimodality imaging contributes to proper diagnosis, management, and follow-up of supratentorial lesions with CCD.

Neuroimaging of the vulnerable plaque

Plaque vulnerability due to inflammation has been shown to be a participating factor in the degenerative process in the arterial wall that contributes to stenosis and embolism. This is believed to have an important role to play also in the genesis of stroke or cerebrovascular diseases. In order to appropriately screen patients for treatment, there is an absolute need to directly or indirectly visualize both the normal carotid and the suspected plaque. This can be done with a variety of techniques ranging from ultrasound to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition to angiographic techniques, direct imaging of the plaque can be done either by ultrasound or by the so-called molecular imaging techniques, i.e. positron emission tomography (PET). These findings, together with other clinical and paraclinical parameters should finally guide the therapeutic choice.

Clinical applications of hybrid PET/MRI in neuroimaging

PURPOSE

We tested the performance and clinical applicability of combined protocols for brain imaging studies acquired on a new whole-body hybrid PET/MR scanner.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Fifteen patients [6 male and 9 female patients; mean (SD) age, 51 (30) y; range, 6-89 y] were scanned on a Philips Ingenuity TF PET/MR. Standard imaging protocols of both modalities were combined, using a "head coil" and contrast-enhanced fully diagnostic MR protocols. Attenuation correction of the PET images was performed using tissue segmentation of the MR image and incorporation of attenuation templates measured for coils and table.The clinical indications evaluated are as follows: patients with cognitive disturbance of suspected neurodegenerative origin, presurgical evaluation of drug-refractory epilepsy, and brain tumor staging. For the first 2 indications, FDG PET imaging was performed, whereas for the last, fluoroethyltyrosine, an amino acid tracer, was used.

RESULTS

In all cases (4 patients with neurodegenerative disease, 6 patients with epilepsy, and 5 patients with high-grade tumor), we obtained full diagnostic quality of both modalities and the total duration of the examination remained within a tolerable range (<2 hours). Twelve subjects had pathological findings: 11 of which were confirmed by clinical follow-up as true positive and 1 was confirmed as a false-positive result. For the 3 normal studies, the clinical follow-up confirmed the imaging findings as true-negative.

CONCLUSIONS

Acquiring both PET and MR in a single session on a hybrid system minimized patient discomfort while maximizing clinical information and optimizing registration of both modalities. In addition, in comparison to PET/CT, the effective dose (related to CT) was reduced, and this is particularly beneficial in the pediatric population.