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Published on: June 23, 2022
Brain PET metabolic abnormalities in a case of varicella-zoster virus encephalitis
Benjamin Coiffard1, Eric Guedj, Aurélie Daumas
1From the *Service de Médecine Interne, Post-urgences et Thérapeutique, and †Service Central de Biophysique et Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital de la Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille; and ‡Centre Européen de Recherche en Imagerie Médicale, Faculté de Médecine Timone, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
Abstract:
The role of brain 18F-FDG PET in the diagnostic evaluation of encephalitis has been recently suggested, especially in limbic encephalitis, but descriptions are mainly limited to small case reports. However, the evaluation of cerebral metabolism by 18F-FDG PET has never been described for varicella-zoster virus encephalitis. We report the first case of varicella-zoster virus encephalitis in which 18F-FDG PET revealed brain metabolic abnormalities. Brain metabolic PET imaging was analyzed by comparing the patient's brain 18F-FDG PET scans to that of 12 healthy subjects. Compared with healthy subjects, significant hypometabolism and hypermetabolism were found and evolved over time with treatment.
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