The quarterly journal of nuclear medicine : official publication of the Italian Association of Nuclear Medicine (AIMN) [and] the International Association of Radiopharmacology (IAR)
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Comparative Study
Diagnostic imaging in patients with paragangliomas. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance and MIBG scintigraphy comparison.
We compared iodine-131 metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies in 40 patients with suspected or proven paragangliomas. ⋯ Our results suggest that CT and MR are particularly useful in the initial evaluation of patients with suspected paragangliomas. MIBG should be recommended during the post-surgical follow-up of such patients since recurrent, malignant or extra-adrenal disease frequently occur. Finally, while MR SIR and CT features are not able to distinguish malignant paragangliomas from benign tumors, MIBG uptake is higher in malignant lesions compared to benign tumors providing a diagnostic criterion to differentiate these lesions.