• Serena De Luca, Rosa Fonti, Luigi Camera, Barbara Salvatore, Antongiulio Faggiano, Andrea Ciarmiello, Sabrina Segreto, Annamaria Colao, Marco Salvatore, and Silvana Del Vecchio.
• Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini 5, Edificio 10, 80131, Naples, Italy.
• Ann Nucl Med. 2016 Apr 1; 30 (3): 234-41.

ObjectiveThe aim of our study was to determine the role of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET/CT) and indium-111 Octreotide single photon emission tomography ((111)In-Octreotide SPECT) in the evaluation of metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MMTC).MethodsTwenty-five MMTC patients were retrospectively evaluated. All patients had undergone whole-body (18)F-FDG-PET/CT including 20 who had also undergone (111)In-Octreotide SPECT within a maximum interval of 6 weeks. Diagnostic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) alone or as part of (18)F-FDG-PET/CT examination was performed in all patients.ResultsContrast-enhanced CT detected a total of 131 lesions including 79 enlarged lymph nodes and 14 bone lesions. (18)F-FDG-PET/CT visualized a total of 92 true positive lesions (SUVmax range 1.1-10.0, mean 4.0 ± 1.7) including 66 lymph nodes, 7 of which were not enlarged on CT, and 8 bone metastases. In the 20 patients studied with both techniques, a total of 64 and 46 true positive lesions were detected by (18)F-FDG-PET/CT and (111)In-Octreotide SPECT, respectively. In particular, (18)F-FDG uptake was found in 43 lymph nodes and in 7 bone metastases whereas (111)In-Octreotide uptake was detected in 27 lymph nodes and in 10 bone metastases.ConclusionsIn MMTC patients, (18)F-FDG-PET/CT provides a useful contribution mainly in evaluating lymph node involvement whereas (111)In-Octreotide SPECT can contribute to the detection and somatostatin receptor characterization especially of bone lesions.

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