• Kenzo Uchida, Hideaki Nakajima, Takaharu Takamura, Shigeru Kobayashi, Tatsuro Tsuchida, Hidehiko Okazawa, and Hisatoshi Baba.
• Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Medicine, Fukui University Faculty of Medical Sciences, Shimoaizuki 23, Matsuoka, Fukui 910-1193, Japan. kuchida@u-fukui.ac.jp
• J Neuroimaging. 2009 Jul 1; 19 (3): 274-6.

AbstractWe document serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and [(18)F] 2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) findings in the process of improvement from delayed radiation necrosis of the spinal cord. A 61-year-old woman underwent radiotherapy for an oral carcinoma. Forty-six months later she developed a left-sided Brown-Séquard syndrome, suggesting incomplete cervical cord transection below the cervico-thoracic junction. Two months after starting steroid therapy, she had gradual clinical improvement, which continues 8 years after the termination of radiotherapy. Neurological improvement was associated with gradual resolution of an extensive high-intensity area within the cervico-thoracic spinal cord on MRI. Initially, the FDG-PET showed linear and uniform increase in FDG uptake throughout the cervical spinal cord with standardized uptake value of 2.68 +/- 0.16 (mean +/- SD), but it returned to normal value (1.90 +/- 0.14) at final follow-up. Considering that the normalization of FDG uptake correlated with neurological recovery, the uniform- and diffuse-increased FDG uptake noted in the initial course of myelopathy could reflect the metabolic activity of the compromised spinal cord.

26 keywords...

hide…