Epilepsy - An 11-year-old boy

History
An 11-year-old boy, diagnosed with epilepsy at age 7, had been treated with medications for 4 years. During the last year, he had continued to have seizures, even with a change in antiseizure medications. An FDG PET scan was ordered to evaluate for the possible source of the seizure.

MRI Findings
MRI showed no structural abnormality.

PET Findings
The FDG-PET scan showed moderate-to-severe hypometabolism (lower than normal glucose utilization) in the right parietal, posterior, frontal, occipital, and temporal lobes (arrows) in the interictal period (i.e., between seizures). PET showed eleptogenic tissue in the localized brain. Surgery was performed to resect the dysfunctional tissue. The child, after surgery, was seizure free.

Courtesy of
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Supplement, Volume 42, Number 5, May 2001 and UCLA.