Functional imaging with 11-C-Methionine PET for pituitary adenomas
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Functional imaging with 11C-Methionine PET-CT for the detection of new and residual/recurrent pituitary adenomas
IRAS ID
140424
Contact name
Mark Gurnell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Research summary
The pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland located at the base of the skull below the optic nerves. It secretes hormones through which it controls several other glands in the body and hence it is often referred to as the "master gland". It regulates thyroid activity, growth during childhood, response to stress and reproduction. Pituitary tumours account for 10-15% of all tumours in the head and their prevalence can be as high as 16.7% taking into account small tumours found at autopsy. Pituitary tumours cause problems either by virtue of excess secretion of hormones and/or because they grow large enough to compress important nearby structures. Therefore, treatment targeted to the exact location of the tumour with concurrent sparing of the rest of the healthy pituitary gland and other adjacent structures is crucial. Despite great advances in imaging techniques, accurate localization of small pituitary tumours remains a challenge. Also, in patients with previous surgery to the pituitary gland, distinguishing between residual tumour, normal pituitary gland and post-operative scar tissue is problematic. This can lead to unnecessary additional treatments such as radiotherapy.
11-C-Methionine is a short-lived radioactive ‘tracer’, which after being injected into the patient’s vein gets concentrated into tissues that produce proteins. Hormones produced by the pituitary gland are mostly proteins, hence uptake of the tracer within the pituitary gland, and especially inside pituitary tumours overproducing hormones is very strong. Accordingly, we propose to use a special scan utilizing 11-C-Methionine, called 11-C-Methionine PET/CT, to achieve more accurate localization of pituitary tumours. We also wish to determine whether temporary suppression of normal pituitary gland function can further improve detection of tumours by reducing 11C-methionine uptake into normal, but not tumoural, pituitary tissue. We propose to test our hypothesis in 12 healthy adults and 40 patients with differing types of pituitary tumours.REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1642
Date of REC Opinion
24 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion