In recent years, PET-based molecular functional imaging has been increasingly used in neuroendocrine tumors for tailoring of treatment strategies to the individual characteristics of each patient. For each particular patient, the relative tracer uptake by the dual-tracer PET imaging approach (with 68Ga-DOTANOC/TATE and 18F-FDG) frequently plays an important role along with the histopathologic tumor grades for selecting the optimal treatment approach for advanced/metastatic cases. Various tumor-specific parameters have resulted in development of such precision-medicine type model in this biologically heterogeneous group of tumors. The traditional advantages of PET/computed tomography in terms of disease staging are also applicable for personalization of management. From the medical oncologist's standpoint, multitracer PET-based information and staging is of significant importance (in addition to the histologic grades) in selecting the appropriate chemotherapy regimen and monitoring response on an individual basis in the course of treatment.
Keywords: FDG-PET/CT; Molecular imaging; Neuroendocrine tumor; Personalized management; Somatostatin receptor imaging; Tumor biology; Tumor heterogeneity.
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