Novel PET tracers: added value for endocrine disorders.

Abstract

Nuclear medicine has been implicated in the diagnosis and treatment of endocrine disorders for several decades. With recent development of PET tracers, functional imaging now plays a major role in endocrine tumors enabling with high performance to their localization, characterization, and staging. Besides 18F-FDG, which may be used in the management and follow-up of endocrine tumors, new tracers have emerged, such as 18F-DOPA for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) (medullary thyroid carcinoma, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas and well-differentiated NETs originating from the midgut) and 18F-Choline in the field of primary hyperparathyroidism. Moreover, some peptides such as somatostatin analogs can also be used for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy. In this context, Gallium-68 labeled somatostatin analogs (68Ga-SSA) can help to tailor therapeutic choices and follow the response to treatment in the so-called "theranostic" approach. This review emphasizes the usefulness of these three novel PET tracers (18F-Choline, 18F-FDOPA, and 68Ga-SSA) for primary hyperparathyroidism and neuroendocrine tumors.