Adrenal masses of varied etiology: anatomical and molecular imaging features on PET-CT

Clin Nucl Med. 2014 Mar;39(3):251-60. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0b013e3182a77c72.

Abstract

A wide spectrum of benign and malignant diseases can present as an adrenal mass. Combined PET-CT is useful for evaluation of adrenocortical and adrenomedullary masses. F-FDG has been extensively used as PET radiotracer for this purpose. F-FDOPA PET, Ga-DOTA peptide (Ga-DOTANOC/TATE) PET, and C-HED PET have also been used for imaging of adrenal medullary lesions, whereas C-MTO PET has been used for adrenocortical imaging. We provide a review of imaging characteristics of adrenal gland pathologies on PET-CT using different tracers.

MeSH terms

  • Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / etiology*
  • Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / pathology
  • Contrast Media
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
  • Humans
  • Molecular Imaging*
  • Multimodal Imaging*
  • Organometallic Compounds
  • Positron-Emission Tomography*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed*

Substances

  • 68Ga-DOTANOC
  • Contrast Media
  • Organometallic Compounds
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18