Are contrast media required for (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT in patients with neuroendocrine tumours of the abdomen?

Abstract

Contrast media moderately improve the sensitivity of (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT for neuroendocrine tumours. Contrast media hardly affect the specificity of (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT for neuroendocrine tumours. Unenhanced PET/CT is sufficient for routine imaging of patients with neuroendocrine tumours.

Somatostatin Receptor PET/CT Imaging for the Detection and Staging of Pancreatic NET: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…PET/CT was employed without CT contrast media injection in all research papers except for the studies by Mayerhoefer et al [ 32 ] and by Kazmierczak et al [ 45 ], whereas no studies employed hybrid PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.…”

“…However, in the paper by Nakamoto et al [ 47 ], in which two acquisition time points (60 and 90 min post-injection) were tested, no relevant differences in terms of accuracy were reported in either the detection of primary lesion nor in the metastasis identification. Analysis of PET images was exclusively performed using visual analysis in 10 studies [ 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 32 , 39 , 42 , 44 , 49 ]. Additional semiquantitative criteria, mainly maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), were also used.…”

“…Most of the selected studies used conventional imaging as the reference standard to assess SSR-PET/CT accuracy in the detection of primary lesions [ 17 , 21 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 35 , 41 , 46 , 50 ]. Histopathology was used as a reference only by Cingarlini et al [ 48 ] and Kaemmerer et al [ 38 ].…”

Pet Tracers for Somatostatin Receptor Imaging of Neuroendocrine Tumors: Current Status and Review of the Literature

“…However, each of the scans showed exclusive foci detection and together delivered synergistic information [87]. Enhancement with contrast in a 68 Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT study increased the sensitivity from 92 to 99% [88].…”

The future of nuclear medicine imaging of neuroendocrine tumors: on a clear day one might see forever…

“…Preliminary studies with fused 68 Ga-SMS-R-PET and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, both as diffusion-weighted and gadoxetateenhanced images, have demonstrated similar high perregion (98.9 and 97.7 %, respectively) and per-organ (95.7 and 91.3 %, respectively) sensitivity, with comparable high specificity (99.6-99.7 %) [25]. The PET and MRI techniques provide complementary information, regarding both the anatomical detail and the functional characterization of the tissue, including the diffusionweighted imaging (DWI) parameters and the receptormediated uptake of the 68 Ga-DOTA-peptide.…”