Purpose: To determine the diagnostic and localization value of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) who underwent epilepsy surgery.
Methods: One hundred and eight patients with pathologically proven FCD who underwent surgery for refractory epilepsy were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT, and video electroencephalography. An MRI diagnosis of FCD was defined as MRI+. A PET/CT diagnosis of FCD was defined as PET/CT+.
Results: MRI and PET/CT detected FCD in 20.37% and 93.52% of patients, respectively. The difference was significant. Twenty-one patients were MRI+/PET+, 80 were MRI-/PET+, six were MRI-/PET-, and one was MRI+/PET-. The MRI positivity rate was lowest in patients with FCD type IIIa (5.6%, P < 0.05). Prevalence of MRI-/PET+ was highest in patients with FCD type IIIa (88.89%, P < 0.05).
Conclusion: PET/CT is superior to MRI in detecting FCD. FCD type IIIa was more likely than other types to show MRI-/PET+. This suggests that PET/CT has particular diagnostic value for FCD type IIIa patients with negative MRI findings.

Keywords: focal cortical dysplasia, epilepsy, ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT, pathological types