False positive thallium-201 SPECT imaging in brain abscess.

Abstract

Three cases of intracranial 201Tl uptake, reported as positive tumour activity in patients with a final diagnosis of abscess, are described. 201Tl has been proposed as a useful oncotropic radiotracer in the diagnosis of brain tumour activity. These cases suggest a note of caution in the interpretation of 201Tl brain images in the differential diagnosis of an intracranial expanding mass.