Application of PET in Cancer of the Endocrine Organs

Abstract

The role of functional imaging for endocrine abnormalities has increased over the last few decades. Endocrine tumors can be overlooked on conventional anatomic imaging because of small tumor size as well as limited or equivocal clinical data. It can also be difficult for conventional imaging to differentiate disease recurrence from postsurgical changes. Furthermore, anatomic imaging does not provide information on tumor activity. Endocrine malignancies are uncommon, comprising 1–2 % of all tumors affecting adults, and 4–5 % of tumors affecting children. Some endocrine tumors are functional and secrete active substances that trigger physiological symptoms that prompt patient presentation. A smaller fraction of patients with endocrine neoplasms present with symptoms associated with mass effects that are more typically seen in patients with large nonfunctional tumors, which are commonly detected incidentally (so-called incidentaloma). The increasing use of whole-body multidetector CT@ (MDCT) scans has led to an appreciable rise in the identification of such tumors.