Positron emission tomography in neuroendocrine tumours.

Positron emission tomography is an in vivo tracer and imaging technique that utilizes short-lived positron emitting radionuclides (11C, 15O, 13N, 18F) with half-lives ranging between 2 min and 2 hours. These radionuclides are interesting from the labelling viewpoint since they are natural constituents of most biologically active compounds. The short half-life is an advantage with regard to the irradiation dose to the patient but it is also a limitation since it requires the production of these radionuclides in close vicinity to the positron emission tomography camera.