68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-FDG PET/CT in Paraganglioma and Pheochromocytoma: Utility, patterns and heterogeneity

Abstract

Background: Pheochromocytomas (PCC) and paragangliomas (PGL) are neuroendocrine tumours arising from pluripotent neural crest stem cells and are associated with neurons of the autonomic nervous system. PCCs/PGLs are often hereditary and multifocal, and their biologic behaviour and metabolic activity vary making imaging of these tumours challenging. The imaging gold standard has been I-123 MIBG complemented by CT or MRI. PGLs being neuroendocrine tumours express somatostatin receptors enabling imaging with Ga-68 DOTA-coupled peptides such as DOTATATE. Imaging with F-18 FDG also provides additional information regarding metabolic activity and biologic aggressiveness of these tumours, or, in so..