Radionuclide Imaging (SPECT)

Nuclear medicine techniques play a fundamental role in the study of neuroendocrine tumours (NET) having the capability to image in vivo the amine pathway and the overexpression of the somatostatin receptors by means of specific radiopharmaceuticals designed for either scintigraphy or positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT). Meta-iodo-benzyl-guanidine (mIBG) and radiolabelled somatostatin analogues are the two main groups of radiopharmaceuticals available for planar scintigraphy and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in NET imaging. In the present chapter the role of these imaging modalities is discussed, highlighting their advantages and limitations.