الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The study yielded fifteen patients with suspected brain metastases out of 420 patients scanned over a period of six months in order to detect and evaluate brain metastases.
The aim of this work is to assess the role of positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET/CT) in detection and evaluation of cerebral metastases.
All patients were subjected to full history taking, laboratory investigations and other imaging modalities whenever available, followed by PET/CT examination using: Siemens Bio-graph true point 64 PET/CT scanner.
This study included eight males and seven females, ranging in age from 45 to 77 years. Nine out of total 15 patients had brain metastases of unknown origin while six of them were presenting for reassessing and restaging of already known primary tumors.
After whole body FDG-PET/CT examination; the unknown primaries turned out to be lung cancer in five patients and Non Hodgkin lymphoma in two patients, yet the primary tumors remained unknown in two patients.
The known primary tumors that caused brain metastases were breast cancer in four patients, lung cancer and thyroid cancer in one patient each.
In this study, Brain included whole body FDG-PET/CT examination proved to be less sensitive than dedicated brain MRI studies in detection and evaluation of brain metastases from extra cranial malignancies. On the other hand, it has shown great value in detecting asymptomatic brain metastases from previously diagnosed primaries which was beneficial for three patients with breast cancer, three patients with lung cancer and one patient with thyroid cancer. Brain included whole body FDG-PET/CT examination also helped in detection of unknown primaries metastasizing to the brain which were lung cancer in five patients, NHL in two patients.
Therefore, this study concluded that Brain included whole body FDG-PET/CT examination is a valuable tool in the hands of expert neuro-radiologists and nuclear physicians. It should be utilized as it can greatly save time and provide much better management plans for patients who use it as part of routine follow up of their known primary tumors as well as those who suffer from brain metastases of unknown origins.