Radionuclide imaging of neurendocrine tumors: biological basis and diagnostic results

Many radiopharmaceuticals have been successfully used in nuclear medicine to detect neuroendocrine tumors, and many of them are based on a specific mechanism of uptake, while others are non-specific probes. This "review" focuses on the clinical applications of metaiodobenzylguanidine, (111)In-pentreotide and positron emission tomography (PET) tracers. New avances in diagnostic imaging will be discussed. Molecular imaging serves these diagnostic functions and provides powerful means for non-invasively detecting disease.