Related Experiment Video For PET/CT
Updated: Mar 26, 2026

A Practical Guide for the Production and PET/CT Imaging of 68Ga-DOTATATE for Neuroendocrine Tumors in Daily Clinical Practice
Published on: April 17, 2019
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor PET/CT with 68Ga-NOTA-Exendin-4 for Detecting Localized Insulinoma: A Prospective
Yaping Luo1, Qingqing Pan1, Shaobo Yao1
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
Unlabelled:
Preoperative localization of insulinoma is a clinical dilemma. We aimed to investigate whether glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) PET/CT with (68)Ga-NOTA-MAL-cys(40)-exendin-4 ((68)Ga-NOTA-exendin-4) is efficient in detecting insulinoma.
Methods:
In our prospective cohort study, patients with endogenous hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia were enrolled. CT, MRI, endoscopic ultrasound, and (99m)Tc-hydrazinonicotinamide-TOC SPECT/CT were done according to standard protocols. GLP-1R PET/CT was performed 30-60 min after the injection of (68)Ga-NOTA-exendin-4. The gold standard for diagnosis was the histopathologic results after surgery.
Results:
Of 52 recruited patients, 43 patients with histopathologically proven insulinomas were included for the imaging studies. Nine patients did not undergo surgical intervention. (68)Ga-NOTA-exendin-4 PET/CT correctly detected insulinomas in 42 of 43 patients with high tumor uptake (mean SUVavg ± SD, 10.2 ± 4.9; mean SUVmax ± SD, 23.6 ± 11.7), resulting in sensitivity of 97.7%. In contrast, (99m)Tc-hydrazinonicotinamide-TOC SPECT/CT showed a low sensitivity of 19.5% (8/41) in this group of patients; however, it successfully localized the tumor that was false-negative with GLP-1R PET/CT. The sensitivities of CT, MR, and endoscopic ultrasonography were 74.4% (32/43), 56.0% (14/25), and 84.0% (21/25), respectively.
Conclusion:
(68)Ga-NOTA-exendin-4 PET/CT is a highly sensitive imaging technique for the localization of insulinoma.
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