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[68 Ga]-DOTATATE PET/MR-based evaluation of physiologic somatostatin receptor 2 expression in the adult pituitary gland as a function of age and sex in a prospective cohort

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Abstract

Purpose

The pituitary gland has the fourth highest physiologic avidity of [68 Ga]-DOTATATE. In order to guide our understanding of [68 Ga]-DOTATATE PET in clinical contexts, accurate characterization of the normal pituitary gland is first required. This study aimed to characterize the normal pituitary gland using dedicated brain [68 Ga]-DOTATATE PET/MRI as a function of age and sex.

Methods

A total of 95 patients with a normal pituitary gland underwent brain [68 Ga]-DOTATATE PET examinations for the purpose of diagnosing CNS SSTR2 positive tumors (mean age: 58.9, 73% female). Maximum SUV of the pituitary gland was obtained in each patient. SUV of superior sagittal sinus was obtained to calculate normalized SUV score (SUVR) of the gland. The anatomic size of the gland was collected as maximum sagittal height (MSH). Correlations with age and sex were analyzed.

Results

The mean SUV and SUVR of the pituitary gland were 17.6 (range: 7–59.5, SD = 7.1) and 13.8 (range: 3.3–52.6, SD = 7.2), respectively. Older females had significantly higher SUV of the pituitary gland compared to younger females. When stratified by age and sex, both older and younger females had significantly higher pituitary SUV than older males. SUVR did not differ significantly by age or sex. MSH of the pituitary gland in younger females was significantly greater than in younger males at all age cutoffs.

Conclusion

This study provides an empiric profiling of the physiological [68 Ga]-DOTATATE avidity of the pituitary gland. The findings suggest that SUV may vary by age and sex and can help guide the use of [68 Ga]-DOTATATE PET/MRI in clinical and research settings. Future studies can build on these findings to investigate further the relationship between pituitary biology and demographic factors.

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Data availability

The datasets analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by Advanced Accelerator Applications, A Novartis Company [Study Number: CAAA501A0US05T] as part of the DOMINO-START clinical trial protocol [ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04081701]. Sean H. Kim also acknowledges funding support from Radiological Society of North America (RSNA Medical Student Research Grant).

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Author notes

  1. Sean H. Kim and Se Jung Chris Chang have contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, 525 E. 68Th St, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Sean H. Kim, Se Jung Chris Chang, Sara Strauss, Eaton Lin, Joseph R. Osborne & Jana Ivanidze

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Georgiana Dobri

  3. Department of Radiology, University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora, CO, USA

    Vaz Zavaletta

  4. Department of Neurological Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Susan C. Pannullo & Theodore H. Schwartz

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Jonathan P. S. Knisely

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by SHK, SJCC, and JI. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SHK, SJCC, and JI and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jana Ivanidze.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Institutional review board approval with informed consent from all individual participants was obtained for this HIPAA compliant study.

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Kim, S.H., Chang, S.J.C., Dobri, G. et al. [68 Ga]-DOTATATE PET/MR-based evaluation of physiologic somatostatin receptor 2 expression in the adult pituitary gland as a function of age and sex in a prospective cohort. Pituitary 26, 419–428 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11102-023-01329-0

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