title: Diagnosis and localization of focal congenital hyperinsulinism by 18F-fluorodopa PET scan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the accuracy of 18F-fluoro-L-dihydroxyphenylalanine ([18F]-DOPA) PET scans to diagnose focal versus diffuse disease and to localize focal lesions in infants with congenital hyperinsulinism.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four infants with hyperinsulinism unresponsive to medical therapy were studied. Patients were injected intravenously with [18F]-DOPA, and PET scans were obtained for 1 hour. Images were coregistered with abdominal CT scans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The diagnosis of focal or diffuse hyperinsulinism was correct in 23 of the 24 cases (96%) and equivocal in 1 case. [18F]-DOPA PET identified focal areas of high uptake of radiopharmaceutical in 11 patients. Pathology results confirmed that all 11 had focal adenomatosis, and the locations of these lesions matched the areas of increased [18F]-DOPA uptake on the PET scans in all of the cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  [18F]-DOPA PET scans were 96% accurate in diagnosing focal or diffuse disease and 100% accurate in localizing the focal lesion. These results suggest that [18F]-DOPA PET imaging should be considered in all infants with congenital hyperinsulinism who need to have pancreatectomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Olga T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Pampaloni
authors.forename: Janet R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Saffer
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suchi
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruchelli
authors.forename: Hongming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Arupa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganguly
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Freifelder
authors.forename: N Scott
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Adzick
authors.forename: Abass
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alavi
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Stanley
mesh_terms: D016001:Confidence Intervals; D044903:Congenital Hyperinsulinism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D010179:Pancreas / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: C043437:fluorodopa F 18; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine