Usefulness of [sup.11]C-methionine positron emission tomography for detecting intracranial ameloblastic carcinoma: a case report

Ameloblastic carcinoma, secondary type, is an extremely rare odontogenic malignant tumor. The present study reports the case of a 58-year-old male with ameloblastic carcinoma that extended into the intracranial space close to the internal carotid artery. Surgical excision was performed, as headaches...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oncology letters 2014-10, Vol.8 (4), p.1509
Main Authors: Tempaku, Akira, Takahashi, Yoshinobu, Ikeda, Hidetoshi, Yamauchi, Shigeru, Gotoh, Takashi, Bandoh, Nobuyuki, Makino, Syujirou, Shimada, Takuji, Kamada, Hajime
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Care and treatment
Case studies
Diagnosis
Head and neck tumors
Health aspects
Methods
PET imaging
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Ameloblastic carcinoma, secondary type, is an extremely rare odontogenic malignant tumor. The present study reports the case of a 58-year-old male with ameloblastic carcinoma that extended into the intracranial space close to the internal carotid artery. Surgical excision was performed, as headaches were being caused via compression by the mass. Small remnants of the tumor remained surrounding the internal carotid artery following surgical resection. Although the remnant tissue was not detected on magnetic resonance imaging or 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET), it was clearly visualized on [sup.11]C-methionine PET in the early post-operative follow-up period. No neurological deficits were exhibited during the follow-up period, and [sup.11]C-methionine PET was able to detect the remnant lesion distribution in the intracranial space. The current study presents a rare case of ameloblastic carcinoma that extended into the intracranial space. In addition, several diagnostic imaging tools were compared in order to determine the most suitable imaging modality. At present, the patient is continuing a therapeutic course of radiation and evident mass reduction has been observed. However, the therapeutic effects are currently under consideration. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the effectiveness of using [sup.11]C-methionine PET for detecting ameloblastic carcinoma with intracranial extension. Key words: ameloblastic carcinoma, intracranial extension, methionine-labeled positron emission tomography
ISSN:1792-1074
DOI:10.3892/ol.2014.2352