Diagnostic performance of [68Ga]DOTATATE PET/CT, [18F]FDG PET/CT, MRI of the spine, and whole-body diagnostic CT and MRI in the detection of spinal bone metastases associated with pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma

Objective To compare the diagnostic performance of [ 68 Ga]DOTATATE PET/CT, [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT, MRI of the spine, and whole-body CT and MRI for the detection of pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma (PPGL)–related spinal bone metastases. Materials and methods Between 2014 and 2020, PPGL participants with spinal bone metastases prospectively underwent [ 68 Ga]DOTATATE PET/CT, [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT, MRI of the cervical-thoracolumbar spine (MRI spine ), contrast-enhanced MRI of the neck and thoraco-abdominopelvic regions (MRI WB ), and contrast-enhanced CT of the neck and thoraco-abdominopelvic regions (CT WB ). Per-patient and per-lesion detection rates were calculated. Counting of spinal bone metastases was limited to a maximum of one lesion per vertebrae. A composite of all functional and anatomic imaging served as an imaging comparator. The McNemar test compared detection rates between the scans. Two-sided p values were reported. Results Forty-three consecutive participants (mean age, 41.7 ± 15.7 years; females, 22) with MRI spine were included who also underwent [ 68 Ga]DOTATATE PET/CT ( n = 43), [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT ( n = 43), MRI WB ( n = 24), and CT WB ( n = 33). Forty-one of 43 participants were positive for spinal bone metastases, with 382 lesions on the imaging comparator. [ 68 Ga]DOTATATE PET/CT demonstrated a per-lesion detection rate of 377/382 (98.7%) which was superior compared to [ 18 F]FDG (72.0%, 275/382, p