THE ROLE OF TUMOR-SEEKING RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF ADRENAL TUMORS

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiopharmaceutical Imaging
• Oncology

Background:

• Adrenal gland tumors can be assessed using various radiopharmaceuticals.
• Physiological characteristics of the adrenal gland suggest potential for tumor-seeking agents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic utility of 99mTc-HYNIC-TOC, 99mTc(V)-DMSA, and 99mTc-MIBI for adrenal tumors.
• To correlate SPECT imaging findings with histopathology.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cross-sectional study involving 50 patients with adrenal tumors and 23 controls.
• Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with qualitative and semiquantitative analysis.
• Region-of-interest technique to calculate tumor-to-non-tumor uptake and adrenal-to-background (A/B) ratios.

Main Results:

• 99mTc-HYNIC-TOC demonstrated statistically significant A/B ratios.
• 99mTc-HYNIC-TOC showed high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for adrenal tumor detection (A/B ratio cut-off of 8.40).
• Other tracers (99mTc(V)-DMSA, 99mTc-MIBI) exhibited lower diagnostic performance.

Conclusions:

• Semiquantitative SPECT analysis indicates 99mTc-HYNIC-TOC is a highly sensitive agent for adrenal tumor localization.
• 99mTc-HYNIC-TOC offers a high diagnostic yield in assessing adrenal tumors.