Imaging Spectrum and Pitfalls of (11)C-Methionine Positron Emission Tomography in a Series of Patients with Intracranial Lesions

(11)C-methionine (Met) positron emission tomography (PET) is one of the most commonly used PET tracers for evaluating brain tumors. However, few reports have described tips and pitfalls of (11)C-Met PET for general practitioners. Physiological (11)C-Met uptake, anatomical variations, vascular disorders, non-tumorous lesions such as inflammation or dysplasia, benign brain tumors and patient condition during (11)C-Met PET examination can potentially affect the image interpretation and cause false positives and negatives. These pitfalls in the interpretation of (11)C-Met PET images are important for not only nuclear medicine physicians but also general radiologists. Familiarity with the spectrum and pitfalls of (11)C-Met images could help prevent unfavorable clinical results caused by misdiagnoses.