Evaluation of the Diagnostic and Prognostic Role of PET (PET/CT and PET/MRI) in Neuroendocrin Tumors.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) constitute approximately 0.5% of malignancies. To date, diagnosis at an increasingly early stage of the disease is possible thanks to recent technological advances in biomedical imaging. In particular, the traditional work-up for these pathologies includes endoscopy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). Furthermore, the integrated positron emission tomography methods (PET/CT and PET/MRI) are innovative molecular imaging techniques and represent a continually expanding field of research in the oncology setting. In particular, PET is taking on an increasingly relevant role for the study of neuroendocrine tumors, also thanks to the introduction of increasingly accurate radiopharmaceuticals (targeted towards somatostatin receptors), thus opening the way to new possibilities for the diagnosis andcharacterization of these tumors, is in the staging and restaging phase .