Studies suggest that thallium 201 (201Tl) planar scans of brain tumors more accurately reflect viable tumor burden than CT, MRI, or radionuclide studies with other single-photon emitting compounds.

Kim et al. have previously reported the utility of 201Tl SPECT index in distinguishing low- from high-grade gliomas elsewhere.

They also describe the technical considerations of deriving a simple 201Tl index, based on uptake in the tumor normalized to homologous contralateral tissue, from SPECT images of brain tumors. We evaluated the importance of consistently correcting for tissue attenuation, as it may achieve better lesion discrimination on qualitative inspection, and the methodologic limitations imposed by partial volume effects at the limits of resolution ¹⁾.