EANM practice guideline for PET/CT imaging in medullary thyroid carcinoma

• Published in: European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 61 - 77
• Main Authors: Giovanella, Luca, Treglia, Giorgio, Iakovou, Ioannis, Mihailovic, Jasna, Verburg, Frederik A., Luster, Markus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: C cells; Cardiology; Clinical practice guidelines; Computed tomography; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dihydroxyphenylalanine; Fluorine; Fluorine isotopes; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Gallium; Guidelines; Humans; Imaging; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic pathways; Metastases; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Oncology – Head and Neck; Orthopedics; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; Radiology; Radiopharmaceuticals; Somatostatin; Surgery; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid carcinoma; Thyroid Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Tomography; Tracks (paths); Tumors; Ultrasonic testing; Ultrasound; Dihydroxyphenylalanine; Fluorodeoxyglucose; Somatostatin; Medullary thyroid carcinoma; PET/CT
• ISSN: 1619-7070; 1619-7089
• DOI: 10.1007/s00259-019-04458-6

Background Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a malignant tumour derived from the para-follicular thyroid C cells. It may occur in sporadic or hereditary forms and surgery represent the primary cure. Methods Ultrasound examination and, in selected cases, cross-sectional anatomic imaging procedures, are adopted to stage the disease before primary surgery while different anatomic/morphologic and functional/molecular imaging procedures can be adopted in detecting persistent/recurrent disease. Positron emitting radiopharmaceuticals including fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG), fluorine-18 dihydroxyphenylalanine ( 18 F-FDOPA) and somatostatin analogues labelled with gallium-68 ( 68 Ga-SSA) tracks different metabolic pathways or receptor expression/functioning, and proved to be useful in detecting MTC recurrences/metastasis. Conclusions This practice guideline from the Thyroid Committee of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), with involvement of external experts, provides recommendations based on updated literature’s evidences. The purpose of this practice guideline is to assist imaging specialists and clinicians in recommending, performing and interpreting the results of PET/CT with various radiopharmaceuticals in patients with MTC.