Somatostatin Receptor Imaging May Establish the Neuroendocrine Nature of Unclarified Metastases

Different imaging modalities may be of use in unclarified disease states. Positron emission tomography (PET) with F-18fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18-FDG) depicts cellular glucose metabolism with a high uptake being indicative of a high cellular turnover and, hence, consistent with ongoing infection, inflammation, or high grade malignancy (Hess, et al., 2014). Functional imaging with somatostatin analogues are used for visualizing neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) expressing somatostatin receptors due to their resemblance with normal neuroendocrine tissue. From time to time, imaging results may be atypical or even conflicting and, therefore, complicating the diagnostic process. Typically, however, different scans complement each other, and the right imaging techniques are useful not only for diagnostic purposes but also for revealing dissemination and guiding biopsy. This case illustrates the use of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) with the somatostatin analogue 111In pentetreotide Abstract