Thallium-201 imaging of brain tumors using single photon emission CT

Single photon emission CT using thallium-201 chloride, injected intravenously, was performed on 28 cases of cerebral lesions, among which were 16 gliomas, 2 meningiomas, 5 other brain tumors, 3 metastatic brain tumors and 2 cerebral radiation necroses. The degree of thallium-201 accumulation was evaluated by a new method called the thallium index (TLI); that is, TLI was expressed as (T-C)/C (T and C indicate relative counts in a pixel of a lesion and in non-affected normal brain tissue, respectively). Thallium-201 accumulation occurred in 86% (24) of the evaluated cases. In general, there was a tendency in high-grade or recurrent gliomas, as well as in metastatic brain tumors for the TLI values to be high. Moreover, high TLI values were noticed in cases of meningioma, radiation necrosis of cerebellum and in cases involving subacute stages of cerebral infarction. It is particularly noteworthy that the meningioma TLI values were about two times higher than those of the glioblastomas. The CT contrast-enhancement of lesions was clearly correlated with the TLI values, and the relationship between the TLI values and the number of vessels observed microscopically in the specimen was statistically significant. From the above results, it was concluded that thallium-201 accumulation in lesions might be strongly influenced by the development of vascularity in lesions, and/or the interference with the blood brain barrier due to the tumor itself. However, this malignancy diagnostic method is probably limited to the diagnosis of glioma. (author)