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The Effects of Carbidopa on Uptake of 6-¹⁸F-Fluoro-L-DOPA in PET of Pheochromocytoma and Extraadrenal Abdominal Paraganglioma

¹ Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; ² Department of Endocrinology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; ³ Nuclear Medicine Department, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; ⁴ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; and ⁵ Clinical Neurocardiology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

Correspondence: For correspondence or reprints contact: Karel Pacak, MD, PhD, DSc, Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 10 Center Dr., Bldg. 10, CRC, RM 1-E 3140, MSC 1109, Bethesda, MD 20892-1109. E-mail: karel{at}mail.nih.gov

6-¹⁸F-fluoro-L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (¹⁸F-DOPA) PET is a useful tool for the detection of certain neuroendocrine tumors, especially with the preadministration of carbidopa, an inhibitor of DOPA decarboxylase. Whether carbidopa also improves ¹⁸F-DOPA PET of adrenal pheochromocytomas and extraadrenal paragangliomas is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of ¹⁸F-DOPA PET in the detection of paraganglioma and its metastatic lesions and to evaluate whether tracer uptake by the tumors is enhanced by carbidopa. Methods: Two patients with nonmetastatic adrenal pheochromocytoma, and 9 patients with extraadrenal abdominal paraganglioma (1 nonmetastatic, 8 metastatic), underwent whole-body CT, MRI, baseline ¹⁸F-DOPA PET, and ¹⁸F-DOPA PET with oral preadministration of 200 mg of carbidopa. The dynamics of tracer uptake by these lesions and the physiologic distribution of ¹⁸F-DOPA in normal tissues were recorded. Results: Seventy-eight lesions were detected by CT or MRI, 54 by baseline ¹⁸F-DOPA PET (P = 0.0022 vs. CT/MRI), and 57 by ¹⁸F-DOPA PET plus carbidopa (P = 0.0075 vs. CT/MRI, not statistically significant vs. baseline). In reference to findings on CT and MRI, the sensitivities of baseline ¹⁸F-DOPA PET were 47.4% for lesions and 55.6% for positive body regions, versus 50.0% (lesions) and 66.7% (regions) for ¹⁸F-DOPA PET plus carbidopa (neither is statistically significant vs. baseline). Compared with baseline, carbidopa detected additional lesions in 3 (27%) of 11 patients. Carbidopa increased the mean (±SD) peak standardized uptake value in index tumor lesions from 6.4 ± 3.9 to 9.1 ± 5.6 (P = 0.037). Pancreatic physiologic ¹⁸F-DOPA uptake, which may mask adrenal pheochromocytoma, is blocked by carbidopa. Conclusion: Carbidopa enhances the sensitivity of ¹⁸F-DOPA PET for adrenal pheochromocytomas and extraadrenal abdominal paragangliomas by increasing the tumor-to-background ratio of tracer uptake. The sensitivity of ¹⁸F-DOPA PET for metastases of paraganglioma appears to be limited.

Key Words: 6-fluoro-DOPA • 6-¹⁸F-fluorodopamine • carbidopa • pheochromocytoma • paraganglioma • positron emission tomography • standardized uptake value • region of interest

COPYRIGHT © 2007 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc.

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