I/I-Metaiodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) scintigraphy: procedure guidelines for tumour imaging

The aim of this document is to provide general information about mIBG scintigraphy in cancer patients. The guidelines describe the mIBG scintigraphy protocol currently used in clinical routine, but do not include all existing procedures for neuroendocrine tumours. The guidelines should therefore not be taken as exclusive of other nuclear medicine modalities that can be used to obtain comparable results. It is important to remember that the The European Association has written and approved guidelines to promote the use of nuclear medicine procedures with high quality. These general recommendations cannot be applied to all patients in all practice settings. The guidelines should not be deemed inclusive of all proper procedures and exclusive of other procedures reasonably directed to obtaining the same results. The spectrum of patients seen in a specialized practice setting may be different than the spectrum usually seen in a more general setting. The appropriateness of a procedure will depend in part on the prevalence of disease in the patient population. In addition, resources available for patient care may vary greatly from one European country or one medical facility to another. For these reasons, guidelines cannot be rigidly applied. These guidelines summarize the views of the Oncology Committee of the EANM and reflect recommendations for which the EANM cannot be held responsible. The recommendations should be taken in the context of good practice of nuclear medicine and do not substitute for national and international legal or regulatory provisions. The guidelines have been reviewed by the EANM Dosimetry Committee, Paediatrics Committee, Physics Committee and Radiopharmacy Committee. The guidelines have been brought to the attention of the National Societies of Nuclear Medicine. E. Bombardieri :M. R. Castellani Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano, Italy F. Giammarile Médecine nucléaire, CHLS, Hospices Civils de Lyon, and Faculté de Médecine, Lyon, France C. Aktolun Tiro-Center Tiroid Merkezi, Istanbul, Turkey R. P. Baum PET Center, Bad Berka, Germany A. Bischof Delaloye CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland L. Maffioli Ospedale Legnano, Milan, Italy R. Moncayo University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria L. Mortelmans University UZ Gasthuisberg, Louvain, Belgium G. Pepe :A. Chiti (*) Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano (MI), Italy e-mail: [email protected] S. N. Reske University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany DOI 10.1007/s00259-010-1545-7 Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging (2010) 37:2436–2446 Published online: 20 July 2010 resources and facilities available for patient care may vary from one country to another and from one medical institution to another. The present guidelines have been prepared for nuclear medicine physicians and intend to offer assistance in optimizing the diagnostic information that can currently be obtained from mIBG scintigraphy. The corresponding guidelines of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) and the Dosimetry, Therapy and Paediatric Committee of the EANM have been taken into consideration, and partially integrated into this text. The same has been done with the most relevant literature on this topic, and the final result has been discussed within a group of distinguished experts.