In recently published work, Kerstin Heurling (Director, PET Imaging at Antaros Medical) and co-authors investigate the diagnostic potential of 68Ga-labelled octreotide DOTATOC position emission tomography (PET) for pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs).
PitNETs are tumours arising from hormone-producing cells in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. These tumours are common and account for around 25% of all intracranial surgical resections. Current techniques to detect PitNETs are limited in their ability to detect small tumours and to assess residual tumour after surgery. Further, the relative lack of functional information with gold standard techniques limits the evaluation of nonsurgical treatment response.
Using DOTATOC PET to diagnose PitNETs have recently demonstrated promising results, where differences in tracer uptake have been shown between normal pituitary gland and PitNETs. The published study further investigated the use of detecting PitNETs by performing 68Ga-DOTATOC PET before and after pituitary surgery. Results demonstrated difference in tracer uptake of different PitNET subtypes and normal pituitary tissue as well as promising results on discrimination between cured and non-cured patients based on pre-operative uptake values.
Read more in the article published in Clinical Endocrinology:
Authors: Tjörnstrand A, Casar-Borota O, Heurling K, Schöll M, Gjertsson P, Ragnarsson O, Filipsson Nyström H