This study presents a visual rating scale for the assessment of cerebral [(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D: -glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scans to characterize typical findings in dementias associated with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and to differentiate individual patients with FTLD compared to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A total of 43 cerebral PET scans from patients with FTLD (n = 16, mean age 58.4 years), AD (n = 16, 59.9 years) and MCI (n = 11, 57.9 years) were analysed. Every PET data set was visually rated for seven brain regions on each hemisphere (frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, basal ganglia, thalamus and cerebellum). The extent of the impairment in metabolism was classified as absent, mild, medium or strong. Using this four-stage visual rating scale, characteristic profiles of metabolic impairment in FTLD, AD, MCI and the FTLD-subgroup FTD (n = 9) could be demonstrated. Patients with FTLD showed a significantly lower metabolism in the left frontal lobe and in the left basal ganglia when compared to AD and to MCI. Complementary analyses using statistical parametric mapping (SPM2) supported the findings of the visual analysis. In detecting FTLD with visual rating, sensitivity/specificity was 81/94% compared to AD and 81/64% compared to MCI. Patients with FTD were correctly attributed to a diagnosis of FTLD with a sensitivity of 89%. This visual rating scale may facilitate the differential diagnosis of FTLD in clinical routine.

Cancer is a life-threatening condition. We describe the case of a 22-yr-old world-class endurance athlete who presented with mild local lymphadenopathy but without any systemic complaints or impaired performance. He was subsequently diagnosed with stage III A (S) Hodgkin's lymphoma. A complete physiological workup before the diagnosis revealed high aerobic capacity. Immediately after six courses of escalated BEACOPP chemotherapy in an identical test setting, aerobic capacity was markedly reduced (-42%), mainly because of a decrease in total hemoglobin mass (-37%), despite maintaining a certain amount of endurance training. Other potentially performance-limiting systems such as heart, lung, or aerobic metabolism did not show any signs of impairment. Two months after chemotherapy, the athlete had recovered his hemoglobin mass, and his aerobic performance was almost back to pretherapy levels. This case illustrates that advanced malignancies can be present in elite athletes without affecting performance, and that aerobic capacity can be regained within a short time after systemic chemotherapy.