Combined use of functional imaging technique for diagnosis and treatment of glioma

Abstract

It has now been well recognized that morphological imaging is not enough to evaluate the biological nature of cerebral glioma. Instead, combined use of various functional imaging technique such as MRI or PET is considered as an inevitable for clinical use or investigational use. As PET-MR machine is now introduced for several institutes in Germany, the USA and Japan, establishment of precise combination of imaging techniques for the functional study of glioma is mandatory. In this review article, the author summarized topics in this field by presenting his own cases or by reviewing published articles. Topics discussed are: 1) Imaging of glioma metabolism imaging with PET and MRS, 2) Imaging of tumor vascular volume and permeability, 3) Usefulness of pharmacological PET for glioma, and 4) Recent imaging topics selected by the author. Use of the state-of-the-art functional imaging technique should be the key method to connect the basic and clinical science in the field of glioma treatment. Establishment of the optimum combination of various technique is mandatory for progress of glioma treatment.