Improving the recognition of brain tumours
High diagnosis probability
The diagnosis of brain tumours is often imprecise. The standard procedure, (nuclear) magnetic resonance imaging, is unable to record tumour structure with certainty, because it is unable to differentiate between cancerous growth and other changes - such as inflammations - taking place in the brain. For final certainty on the possible existence of a cancer, several tissue specimens have to be taken from the brain. This involves life-threatening surgery. A new method makes it possible for scientists at the Research Centre Juelich to predict the structure of the tumour more precisely and to avoid unnecessarily having to take specimens from healthy brain tissue. The scientists at the Institute of Medicine at Juelich injected a small dose of a radioactively marked amino acid (O-(2-[F-18]Fluorethyl)-L-Tyrosin) - in short FET - into patients with suspected brain tumours. Using a subsequent Positron Emission Tomography (PET), they were able to measure the absorption and distribution of the amino acid in the brain. They used a special effect to achieve this. Because tumours need amino acids in order to grow, cancerous growths absorb around 4 times more of the substance than the rest of the brain. Later, the accumulation of - very low - radioactive radiation makes it possible to localise the tumour precisely. By superimposing the images from various measurement methods, it is eventually possible to draw more precise conclusions on the actual structure of brain tumours.
Less risk
The director of the Juelich research team, Prof. Dr. Karl-Josef Langen, emphasises the relatively low risk involved in this examination. "The body is exposed to a radiation level that is no greater than in the case of x-rays," said Langen. A further advantage of this method is that the amino acid can be produced in large amounts and can be easily transported to the 80 or so PET facilities in Germany. The amino acids used to date only have very short-lived radioactive markers (20-minute half-life), which means they are only available to those hospitals that are able to produce the amino acids themselves.
Since different kinds of tumours exist, the recommended therapy is always based on the results of a tissue specimen. The new method makes it possible to avoid taking unnecessary and diagnostically inconclusive specimens from brain regions not affected by the tumour. That is substantial progress.
Press Release:
-- Research Centre Juelich: "Better diagnosis of brain tumours" (31 March 2005) fz-juelich.de/portal/index.php?index=281&cmd=show&mid=268
Topic Links:
-- Research Centre Juelich: Institute of Medicine http://www.fz-juelich.de/ime
-- German Cancer Research Centre: Advanced development of computed tomography with higher resolution images
-- German Cancer Research Centre: Cytogenic methods facilitate tumour diagnosis and therapy decisions
-- innovations-report: Advances in the recognition of brain tumours using magnetic resonance imaging
-- onkodin.de: Methods for specific tumour imaging in the field of nuclear medicine diagnostics - Positron Emission Tomography (PET) /a>
-- medicine worldwide: Brain tumours - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, therapy
-- onkologie.de: Brain tumours - origins, risks, diagnosis, therapy
-- Research Centre Juelich: List of recommended reading on brain tumour diagnostics
Download:
-- German Cancer Research Centre: Key symptoms and diagnosis of brain tumours in childhood and adolescence (PDF, 206 Kb)
-- Munich University (LMU): Dissertation by Barbara Stuber - "Characterisation of the Transport of Amino Acids" (2004)
Reference URL
helmholtz.de/de/Aktuelles/Newsletter.html
SOURCE: http://www.alphagalileo.org
Îmbunãtãþirea recunoaºterii de tumori cerebrale - Improving the recognition of brain tumours - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate