Molecular imaging of thyroid and parathyroid diseases

Molecular imaging of thyroid and parathyroid diseases has changed in recent years due to the introduction of new radiopharmaceuticals and new imaging techniques. Accordingly, we provided an clinicians-oriented overview of such techniques and their indications.

A review of the literature was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus without time or language restrictions through the use of one or more fitting search criteria and terms as well as through screening of references in relevant selected papers. Literature up to and including December 2023 was included. Screening of titles/abstracts and removal of duplicates was performed and the full texts of the remaining potentially relevant articles were retrieved and reviewed.

Thyroid and parathyroid scintigraphy remains integral in patients with thyrotoxicosis, thyroid nodules, differentiated thyroid cancer and, respectively, hyperparathyroidism. In the last years positron-emission tomography with different tracers emerged as a more accurate alternative in evaluating indeterminate thyroid nodules [¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)], differentiated thyroid cancer [¹²⁴I-iodide, ¹⁸F-tetrafluoroborate, ¹⁸F-FDG] and hyperparathyroidism [18F-fluorocholine]. Other PET tracers are useful in evaluating relapsing/advanced forms of medullary thyroid cancer (¹⁸F-FDOPA) and selecting patients with advanced follicular and medullary thyroid cancers for theranostic treatments (⁶⁸Ga/¹⁷⁷Ga-somatostatin analogues).