Molecular pituitary imaging using 18F-FET PET 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the potential for 18F-Fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine (18F-FET) to enable wider access to molecular imaging for patients with pituitary adenomas (FET-pit-PET study)
IRAS ID
297176
Contact name
Mark Gurnell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The pituitary gland is a pea-sized structure at the base of the skull below the optic nerves. It secretes hormones through which it controls several other glands in the body. It is often referred to as the 'master gland' because it regulates many physiological processes including development, growth, metabolism, reproduction and response to stress. Tumours of the pituitary gland can cause problems due to the excess secretion of hormones or because they compress important nearby structures. Despite advances in scanning techniques, accurate location of small pituitary tumours remains a challenge and may mean that a patient cannot be offered potential curative surgery.
Also, in patients who have had previous surgery to the pituitary gland, distinguishing between residual tumour, normal pituitary gland and post-operative scar tissue is challenging. Again, this may prevent further surgery being offered and result in the patient requiring lifelong expensive drug treatment or even radiotherapy.
11-C-Methionine (Met) is a radioactive tracer, which can be used for PET scanning. Following injection into a vein, it is concentrated in tissues that produce proteins. As pituitary tumours make an excess of proteins (hormones), they are readily detected with this technique.
Over the past decade, the Cambridge team have performed more than 600 Met-PET scans to help detect small pituitary tumours in patients from across the UK. However, demand now outweighs supply, and there is an urgent need to rollout this technique to other centres. A key requirement for this is the identification of an alternative tracer with a longer half-life, which would allow transport to other PET centres.
To achieve this, we will examine whether a related PET tracer, 18-F-Fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine (FET), which is taken up by tumours in the same way as Met, and which is already used to image other brain tumours, can replace Met for pituitary tumour imaging.REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/LO/0542
Date of REC Opinion
5 Aug 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion