Description:

The purpose of this pilot study will be to conduct a clinical trial using a time-of-flight PET scanner and MRI scanner to test an improved method for differentiating tumor recurrence from radiation necrosis in glioblastoma patients. We will attempt to do so by performing a static and dynamic FDG-PET scan, a static and dynamic FDOPA-PET scan, and a multiparametric MRI scan - then comparing the results with surgical pathology and static FDG-PET scans. We hypothesize that the new quantitative kinetic analytical methods using FDOPA in combination with FDG will provide crucial functional information to distinguish recurrent tumors from treatment-induced radiation changes in patients with treated brain neoplasms. This is important for improving patient outcomes by allowing treating physicians to more accurately tailor treatments. Furthermore, dynamic FDG and FDOPA PET will be combined with high resolution anatomic and physiologic MRI in order to develop a multimodal multiparametric approach for differentiating tumor recurrence from treatment effect.