Functional characterization of adrenal lesions using [123I]IMTO-SPECT/CT

Adrenal tumors are highly prevalent and represent a wide range of different pathological entities. Conventional imaging often provides only limited information on the origin of these lesions. Novel specific imaging methods are, therefore, of great clinical interest.

We evaluated [(123)I]iodometomidate ([(123)I]IMTO) imaging for noninvasive characterization of adrenal masses.

This was a prospective monocentric diagnostic study in a tertiary care center.

A total of 51 patients with an adrenal lesion underwent [(123)I]IMTO imaging after injection of 185 MBq of [(123)I]IMTO. Sequential planar whole-body scans until 24 hours postinjection and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography imaging 4 to 6 hours postinjection were performed.

Sensitivity and specificity of [(123)I]IMTO imaging for the noninvasive characterization of adrenal lesions were measured.

Adrenocortical tissue showed high and specific tracer uptake with a short investigation time and low radiation exposure. Qualitative analysis of SPECT/computed tomography data resulted in a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 85% for differentiating adrenocortical tumors from lesions of nonadrenocortical origin. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis of semiquantitative data revealed a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 86% for identification of adrenocortical lesions at a cutoff value of tumor to liver ratio of 1.3.

[(123)I]IMTO is a highly specific radiotracer for imaging of adrenocortical tissue with a short investigation time and low radiation exposure. Because of the general availability of SPECT technology, [(123)I]IMTO scintigraphy has the potential to become a widely used tool to noninvasively characterize the biology of adrenal lesions.