F-dedeoxyglucose [F] is an analog of glucose, the main source of energy for brain cells, differing from it only by replacing the hydroxyl group at the second carbon atom with the fluorine-18 isotope. Fluoro-deoxyglucose [l8F], injected intravenously, repeats the initial portion of the glucose metabolic pathway, from the vascular bed to the intercellular space and then into the cells that are phosphorylated with hexokinases. Product
the reaction - [| 8P] deoxyglucose-6-phosphate, unlike glucose phosphate, does not enter into further reactions and accumulates in cells, this makes it possible to measure transmembrane glucose transport and glycolysis rate in the body tissues.
The different rates of anaerobic glycolysis in benign and malignant tumors make it possible to use the drug in the differential diagnosis of malignant tumors of various nosological forms and localizations, determine regional distribution and search for distant metastases, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment in cancer patients. In addition, a different level of glucose consumption by normal and pathological tissue of the brain makes it possible to carry out a refined diagnosis of epilepsy, cerebral diseases of vascular, traumatic genesis.