Metabolic targeting can improve the efficiency of brain tumor biopsies

Semin Oncol. 2020 Apr-Jun;47(2-3):148-154. doi: 10.1053/j.seminoncol.2020.04.007. Epub 2020 May 25.

Abstract

Brain tumors comprise a heterogeneous group of diseases, featuring different biology, prognosis, and treatment. The most known forms are malignant gliomas and metastases. Brain biopsy is a recognized technique in the management of intracranial space-occupying lesions and tumors in particular. Tumor heterogeneity of malignant brain lesions has been described and can lead to significant sampling errors in stereotactic biopsy. Different methods have been used to perform biopsies, including biopsy guided by CT or RMI, echoguided or stereotactic. The choice of the target with the help of PET and MRI with spectroscopy allows one to identify metabolically more active areas of the tumor, and in this way reduce the rate of negative results.

Keywords: Cerebral Biopsy; Choline PET; Gioblastomas; Neuronavigation; Tumor heterogeneity.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Brain Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Brain Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image-Guided Biopsy / methods*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / methods
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multimodal Imaging / methods*
  • Neuronavigation / methods*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods