Neuropharmacological imaging in epilepsy with PET and SPECT

Functional neuroimaging with positron and single photon emitter-labeling ha s added considerably to the understanding of epileptic seizure activity and of the postictal and interictal cerebral dysfunctions that accompany many epilepsies. Some of these functional alterations cannot be studied in human s by any other technique, and in other instances the information is complem entary to that provided by other techniques, some of which are invasive or even require tissue destruction. Available radiotracer imaging techniques h ave yet to be fully applied to several important epileptic syndromes (inclu ding the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and other secondary generalized epilepsies ), to physiological aspects of the natural history of temporal lobe epileps y or any other commonly occurring epilepsy, and to the assessment of mechan isms of action and adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs and other epileps y therapies. New radiotracers should be developed to permit study of specif ic excitatory amino acid receptors and other receptor sites that are known to be relevant to the development of epilepsy, to the onset of individual s eizures, and to interictal dysfunctions.