Is there still a place for SPET in the era of PET brain imaging?

Although positron emission tomography (PET) may be credited with providing the impetus for the new clinical interest in functional neuroimaging and currently is an increasingly important imaging tool for noninvasive assessment of brain tumors, single-photon emission tomography (SPET) has offered an alternative technique with the relative advantages of lower price and wide availability. Brain SPET has been proven useful in the differentiation of tumor recurrence from radiation necrosis, in the non-invasive assessment of gliomas and meningiomas aggressiveness, in differentiating neoplastic from non neoplastic intracerebral haemorrhage, in monitoring treatment response and estimating patients' prognosis. Thus, SPET may still have a role in the diagnosis and characterization of brain tumors. Future comparative studies between SPET and PET or latest magnetic resonance based neuroimaging techniques are warranted.