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Author Spotlight: Integrating Ultrasound Imaging with Biochemical Markers for Thyroid Disease Diagnosis
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Author Spotlight: Integrating Ultrasound Imaging with Biochemical Markers for Thyroid Disease Diagnosis

Published on: February 9, 2024

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Functional and molecular thyroid imaging

Luca Giovanella1,2, Petra Petranović Ovčariček3

  • 1Clinic for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Imaging Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale - EOC, Bellinzona, Switzerland - luca.giovanella@eoc.ch.

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging : Official Publication of the Italian Association of Nuclear Medicine (AIMN) [And] the International Association of Radiopharmacology (IAR), [And] Section of the Society Of
|February 15, 2022
PubMed

Nuclear medicine methods were introduced in the 1940s for thyroid disease diagnosis and therapy. They is still a crucial part of thyroid nodules work-up. Thyroid imaging with iodine or iodine-analog isotopes is widely employed in patients with thyrotoxicosis and remains the only examination able to prove the presence of autonomously functioning thyroid tissue, which excludes malignancy with a high probability. In addition, technetium-99m-methoxyisobutylisonitrile ([99mTc]Tc-MIBI) scintigraphy and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([18F]FDG) are able to avoid unnecessary surgical procedures for cytologically inconclusive thyroid nodules, as confirmed by meta-analysis and cost-effectiveness studies. All considered thyroid molecular imaging allows functional characterization of different thyroid diseases, even before clinical symptoms become manifest, and remains integral to the management of such conditions. This paper summarizes main concepts of thyroid scintigraphy and its clinical use. In addition, it elaborates development of thyroid scintigraphy, as well as thyroid molecular imaging in patients with thyroid nodules and thyrotoxicosis.

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