Somatostatin receptor PET beyond the neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract - the review of literature.

BACKGROUND

PET of the somatostatine receptors (SSR) is a well-established functional imaging modality in the dia-gnosis of the neuroendocrine tumours (NET) of the gastro-entero-pancreatic origin (GEP). However, it can have a major impact also in other clinical entities.

PURPOSE: To present a literature review focusing on the effectivity of SSR PET in the dia-gnosis beyond GEP NET.

CONCLUSION

SSR PET provides an accurate dia-gnosis of pulmonary NET, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, it may have an important impact on their treatment and clinical management. It allows a detailed estimation of the extent of meningeoma, contributes to precise target volumes for radiotherapy delineation and is sensitive in its residuum or recurrence detection. It can be a valuable method in the syndromes of multiple endocrine neoplasia and in the localization of the source of the ectopic Cushing syndrome. It can be used in the medullary thyroid cancer. An important role of SSR PET lies in the planning and monitoring of the peptide-receptor radionuclide therapy embraced in the theranostic concept.