Positron emission tomography was used to measure local cerebral glucose utilization by the 1-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose technique in 23 patients with cerebral gliomas. All 10 high-grade (III and IV) astrocytomas demonstrated a region of high activity with a glucose consumption of 7.4 +/- 3.5 (SD) mg/100 gm per minute. The 13 low-grade (I and II) gliomas had a glucose metabolic rate of 4.0 +/- 1.8 mg/100 gm per minute, with no distinctly visible hot spot. Thus, we found a correlation between rate of glycolysis and malignancy in primary cerebral tumors. Cerebral cortical glucose utilization was often depressed in areas adjacent to or neurally connected to the tumor site, and there was focal irregular delta wave EEG activity in these areas.

Although coronary angiography defines regions of potential ischemia in patients with coronary-artery disease, accurate assessment of the presence and functional importance of ischemia requires appraisal of regional and global left ventricular function during stress. To perform such assessment, we developed a noninvasive real-time radionuclide cineangiographic procedure permitting continuous monitoring and analysis of left ventricular function during exercise. In 11 patients with coronary disease who had normal regional and global ventricular function at rest, new regions of dysfunction developed during exercise (P less than 0.001), and in 10, global ejection fraction dropped 7 to 47 per cent. Fourteen age-matched normal subjects were studied; during exercise none had regional dysfunction, and each increased global ejection fraction (average increase, 23 +/- 3 per cent [+/-S.E.], P less than 0.001 as compared with patients with coronary disease). Radionuclide cineangiography during exercise permits accurate assessment of the presence and functional severity of ischemic heart disease.

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