In vivo assay of folate receptors in nonfunctional pituitary adenomas with 99mTc-folate SPECT/CT.

Unlabelled: The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vivo assay of folate receptors in nonfunctional pituitary adenomas using preoperative (99m)Tc-folate SPECT/CT and Western blot analysis (WBA) of surgical specimens as the standard.

Methods: Fifty-six patients (29 men, 27 women; age range, 29-82 y) with clinically nonfunctional pituitary adenomas on MRI underwent preoperative imaging using 666 MBq (18 mCi) of (99m)Tc-folate. SPECT/CT images and whole-body and lateral head planar images were acquired approximately 2 h after injection.