Preoperative localization of parathyroid adenomas (PA) can shorten operation time and improve curative rate; it becomes especially important in minimally invasive surgical techniques. AIM of this study was to investigate whether positron emission tomography (PET) with 3-,4-dihydroxy-6- (18) F-fluorophenylalanine ( (18) F-DOPA), which showed very promising results in other neuroendocrine tumours, also helps to localize PA.
Patients, methods: Eight patients with proven primary hyperparathyroidism were studied preoperatively with PET. Seven also underwent scintigraphy with (99m) Tc-MIBI and ultrasonography of the neck. All patients were operated and the histological finding was used as a gold standard.
Results: All eight patients had a histologically proven PA. None of the PA showed any detectable uptake of (18) F-DOPA. However, ultrasonography detected 5/7 PA, scintigraphy detected 3/7 PA.
Conclusion: These results suggest that PET with (18) F-DOPA is not useful in the detection of PA in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.