Methionine PET for follow-up of radiation therapy of primary lymphoma of the brain.

Positron emission tomography (PET) with carbon-11 methionine, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging were performed in 10 patients with histologically verified central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma before and after radiation therapy to compare the radiologic findings and to evaluate the usefulness of PET in monitoring tumor response to radiation therapy. Methionine PET clearly depicted CNS lymphoma before radiation therapy as an increased accumulation of C-11 methionine. The extent of increased accumulation of the radiotracer in tumor tissue markedly decreased after radiation therapy. The area of increased uptake was larger than the enhancing lesions on CT or MR images in most cases. One patient was confirmed to have tumor recurrence at the region of residual increased accumulation on methionine PET images. Methionine PET is useful for the delineation of CNS lymphoma and for monitoring the therapeutic effect of irradiation.