Applications of Hybrid PET/Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Central Nervous System Disorders

Austin J Borja; Emily C Hancin; Mohsen Khosravi; Rina Ghorpade; Benjamin Koa; Xuan Miao; Thomas J Werner; Andrew B Newberg; Abass Alavi

doi:10.1016/j.cpet.2020.06.004

Applications of Hybrid PET/Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Central Nervous System Disorders

PET Clin. 2020 Oct;15(4):497-508. doi: 10.1016/j.cpet.2020.06.004. Epub 2020 Jul 21.

Authors

Austin J Borja¹, Emily C Hancin², Mohsen Khosravi³, Rina Ghorpade⁴, Benjamin Koa⁵, Xuan Miao⁴, Thomas J Werner⁴, Andrew B Newberg⁶, Abass Alavi⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
² Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, 3500 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
³ Department of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University, 901 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁵ Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 West Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University, 901 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, Thomas Jefferson University, 901 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁷ Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: abass.alavi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

PMID: 32888547
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpet.2020.06.004

Abstract

PET with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is used to assess a wide array of inflammatory and neoplastic disorders. FDG-PET has shown particular utility in the evaluation of disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). Although fused PET/computed tomography (CT) is frequently used across the globe for these diseases, recent evidence has pointed to PET/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as a more sensitive and specific molecular imaging modality. This article reviews the literature regarding the advantages of PET/MR imaging compared with PET/CT imaging, especially in CNS disease. It also introduces a new concept for PET-based evaluation of patients with neurodegenerative disorders: global disease assessment.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease; Amyloid-β protein; FDG; Florbetapir; MR imaging; Mild cognitive impairment; Mini–mental State Examination; PET.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Brain / diagnostic imaging
Central Nervous System Diseases / diagnostic imaging*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Multimodal Imaging / methods*
Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*