¹⁸F-fluoroethyl-L-tyrosine positron emission tomography for the differential diagnosis of tumefactive multiple sclerosis versus glioma: A case report

Large demyelinating inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) lesions may present with contrast enhancement on magnetic resonance imaging and may mimic CNS tumors such as glioma. In ambiguous cases, new diagnostic tools that may be helpful for distinguishing between demyelinating inflammatory and neoplastic CNS lesions are required. The current study presents the case of a patient with a large contrast-enhanced frontal brain lesion, who was initially diagnosed with tumefactive multiple sclerosis. Following the progression of the brain lesion, an ¹⁸F-fluoroethyl-L-tyrosine positron emission tomography (¹⁸F-FET PET) was performed, revealing markedly elevated static ¹⁸F-FET uptake parameters along with time activity-curves consistent with glioma. Subsequently, a biopsy was undertaken, which confirmed the presence of anaplastic oligoastrocytoma. This case illustrates that ¹⁸F-FET PET may provide useful diagnostic information in cases where distinction between neoplastic and demyelinating inflammatory CNS lesions is challenging. However, further systematic and prospective analyses are warranted to explore the value of this method in this setting.