Piccardo Arnoldo, Treglia Giorgio, Fiz Francesco, Bar-Sever Zvi, Bottoni Gianluca, Biassoni Lorenzo, Borgwardt Lise, de Keizer Bart, Jehanno Nina, Lopci Egesta, Kurch Lars, Massollo Michela, Nadel Helen, Roca Bielsa Isabel, Shulkin Barry, Vali Reza, De Palma Diego, Cecchin Diego, Santos Ana Isabel, Zucchetta Pietro
Department of Nuclear Medicine, E.O. "Ospedali Galliera", Mura Delle Cappuccine 14, 16128, Genoa, Italy.
Clinic of Nuclear Medicine, Imaging Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2024 Feb;51(3):756-767. doi: 10.1007/s00259-023-06486-9. Epub 2023 Nov 14.
BACKGROUND: Molecular imaging is pivotal in staging and response assessment of children with neuroblastoma (NB). [I]-metaiodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) is the standard imaging method; however, it is characterised by low spatial resolution, time-consuming acquisition procedures and difficult interpretation. Many PET catecholaminergic radiotracers have been proposed as a replacement for [I]-mIBG, however they have not yet made it into clinical practice. We aimed to review the available literature comparing head-to-head [I]-mIBG with the most common PET catecholaminergic radiopharmaceuticals. METHODS: We searched the PubMed database for studies performing a head-to-head comparison between [I]-mIBG and PET radiopharmaceuticals including meta-hydroxyephedrine ([C]C-HED), F-18F-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine ([F]DOPA) [I]mIBG and Meta-[18F]fluorobenzylguanidine ([F]mFBG). Review articles, preclinical studies, small case series (< 5 subjects), case reports, and articles not in English were excluded. From each study, the following characteristics were extracted: bibliographic information, technical parameters, and the sensitivity of the procedure according to a patient-based analysis (PBA) and a lesion-based analysis (LBA). RESULTS: Ten studies were selected: two regarding [C]C-HED, four [F]DOPA, one [I]mIBG, and three [F]mFBG. These studies included 181 patients (range 5-46). For the PBA, the superiority of the PET method was reported in two out of ten studies (both using [F]DOPA). For LBA, PET detected significantly more lesions than scintigraphy in seven out of ten studies. CONCLUSIONS: PET/CT using catecholaminergic tracers shows superior diagnostic performance than mIBG scintigraphy. However, it is still unknown if such superiority can influence clinical decision-making. Nonetheless, the PET examination appears promising for clinical practice as it offers faster image acquisition, less need for sedation, and a single-day examination.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015-9-29
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2011-9-20
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2023-8
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2023-3
Clin Cancer Res. 2014-4-15
Pediatr Radiol. 2025-9-2
Abdom Radiol (NY). 2025-5-3
J Nucl Med. 2025-4-1
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2023-8
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2023-7
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2023-3
Clin Nucl Med. 2022-6-1
J Pers Med. 2021-4-4
Clin Nucl Med. 2020-4
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2018-10