Fluorine-18-l-Dihydroxyphenylalanine (18F-DOPA) Positron Emission Tomography as a Tool to Localize an Insulinoma or β-Cell Hyperplasia in Adult Patients

Abstract

18F-DOPA PET was useful in most patients with insulinoma and negative CT, MRI, and ultrasound results. In agreement with previous findings in infants, preoperative 18F-DOPA imaging seems to be a method of choice for the detection of beta-cell hyperplasia in adults. It should be considered for the detection of insulinoma or beta-cell hyperplasia in patients with confirmed hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemias when other diagnostic work-up is negative.

Complementary Roles of 18F-DOPA PET/CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT in Medullary Thyroid Cancer

“…MTC comprises neuroendocrine tumors capable of taking up and decarboxylating amine precursors. As demonstrated by Ahlström et al in 1995 with 11 Clabeled DOPA (21), 18 F-DOPA has been used in the diagnosis of carcinoids (22)(23)(24), pheochromocytomas (25,26), glomus tumors (27), and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (28). Only a few studies have evaluated the value of 18 F-DOPA PET in MTC (7,8,29) and even fewer have used integrated 18 F-DOPA-PET/CT (9,30,31).…”

Dual PET/CT with 18F-DOPA and 18F-FDG in metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma and rapidly increasing calcitonin levels: Comparison with conventional imaging

“…10 been used more recently to differentiate between diffuse congenital hyperglycemia and insulinomas [28] and the detection of neuroendocrine tumors [29]. MTC is associated with the APUD system, and its cells can take up and decarboxylate amine precursors such as DOPA and therefore can be visualized with 18 F-DOPA PET/CT.…”

Diagnosis and localisation of insulinoma: the value of modern magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with calcium stimulation catheterisation

“…The relative frequency of confusing results could suggest that this is a tool best kept in reserve for cases in which localisation is proving difficult, and requires the maximum possible weight of evidence, but even in such cases in our series, octreotide scanning added little in terms of localisation. More recent literature suggests additional sensitivity with the use of 18 F-DOPA PET scanning (25), while preliminary evidence suggests a role for scanning with a radiolabelled GLP-1 analogue exendin (26,27).…”