Year: 1965
Type: article
Abstract: Radioisotopic Encephalography is now a standard tool of the cli nician and neurosurgeon.Its accuracy compares favorably with other diagnostic procedures and, for certain types of lesions and of localizations, it is probably the method of choice.Radioisotopic scanning has been applied to the diagnosis and localization of brain lesions since 1950.How ever the method had not gained widespread acceptance until 1959.The present popularity of the method was prompted by the availability of scanners of very high sensitivity and of more efficient radioisotopic tracers.Brain tumors can be visualized with arsenic 72, copper 64, radioiodionated scrum albumin 1-131 (henceforth referred to as Risa 1-131), mercury 203 and mercury 197.The brain tumor uptake is dependent upon the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, the tumor cell type, the rate of metabolism of the tumor cells and the molecular size of the compound.With the exception of the work of Sweet and Brownell at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with the positron emitters, arsenic 72 and copper 64, the brain scanning until 1959 was almost exclu sively performed with Risa 1-131.The positron technique has not found wide acceptance due to the relatively low sensitivity of the method and to the fact that the positron scanner cannot be used for other scanning procedures.In 1960 McAfee and Taxdal at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland using Risa 131 demonstrated 70 per cent of all intra cranial tumors.They pointed out the advantage of brain scanning over cerebral angiography and air studies and stressed the complete freedom from complication in this method.Furthermore they recognized that the position and extent of intracranial tumors are usually portrayed accu rately because the tumor bed itself is visualized.A further substantial improvement in brain scanning was obtained with the introduction of radioactive mercuhydrin (Hg 203) in 1959.This isotope was studied
Author: Salvatore R. Allegra
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2426463563