Cerebellar hypermetabolism in paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration.

A 51 year old man with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration from gastric adenocarcinoma showed cerebellar hypermetabolism and increased perfusion on brain FDG-PET scan and SPECT during the acute stage of his illness. The patient underwent subtotal gastrectomy. The intensity of the hypermetabolism had decreased markedly on follow-up FDG-PET 3 months later following two cycles of chemotherapy. We suggest that the cerebellar hypermetabolism may have been due to an acute inflammatory process associated with an immunological reaction.