Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2012 Jan;97(1):100-9.
doi: 10.1210/jc.2011-1537. Epub 2011 Nov 23.

Evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of (11)C-metomidate positron emission tomography (PET)-CT for lateralizing aldosterone secretion by Conn's adenomas

Timothy J Burton  1 , Isla S Mackenzie, Kottekkattu Balan, Brendan Koo, Nick Bird, Dmitri V Soloviev, Elena A B Azizan, Franklin Aigbirhio, Mark Gurnell, Morris J Brown
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of (11)C-metomidate positron emission tomography (PET)-CT for lateralizing aldosterone secretion by Conn's adenomas

Timothy J Burton et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Jan.

Abstract

Context: Identification of unilateral aldosterone-producing (Conn's) adenomas has traditionally required lateralization by the invasive and technically difficult procedure of adrenal vein sampling (AVS). (11)C-metomidate, a potent inhibitor of adrenal steroidogenic enzymes, is a positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer that is selectively accumulated by Conn's adenomas.

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the sensitivity and specificity of (11)C-metomidate PET-computed tomography (CT) against the current gold standard of AVS.

Design: The design of the study was within-patient comparison of diagnostic techniques.

Setting: The study was conducted at a single center-university teaching hospital.

Patients: Thirty-nine patients with primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) and five with nonfunctioning adenomas (incidentalomas) participated in the study.

Intervention(s): The first six PHA patients were studied on three occasions to determine whether steroid pretreatment reduced (11)C-metomidate uptake by normal adrenal. Subsequent patients received dexamethasone for 3 d prior to injection of (11)C-metomidate 150-500 MBq.

Main outcome measure(s): Maximum standardized uptake values (SUV(max)) over regions of interest determined from 35-45 min after injection were measured.

Results: Dexamethasone increased tumor to normal adrenal SUV(max) ratio by 25.6 ± 5.0% (P < 0.01). PET-CT visualized subcentimeter adenomas and distinguished hot from cold adenomas within a gland. In 25 patients with PHA and AVS lateralization to the side of an adenoma, SUV(max) over tumor (mean ± sem) of 21.7 ± 1.6 was greater than over normal adrenal, 13.8 ± 0.6 (P = 0.00003); this difference was absent in 10 patients without lateralization on AVS (P = 0.28) and in four of five incidentalomas. On receiver-operator characteristics analysis, an SUV(max) ratio of 1.25:1 provided a specificity of 87% [95% confidence interval (69, 104)] and sensitivity of 76% (59, 93); in tumors with SUV(max) greater than 17, the specificity rose to 100%.

Conclusions: (11)C-metomidate PET-CT is a sensitive and specific noninvasive alternative to AVS in the management of PHA.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types