Uptake of Pineal Gland Visible on 18F-DOPA PET/CT With Last Generation of SiPM PET/CT.

A 17-year-old girl underwent an F-DOPA brain PET/CT on a new high-resolution digital SiPM PET/CT (Vision600 Siemens) to explore a suspicion of recurrence of a pilocytic astrocytoma. This study showed a local recurrence, but a second intense focal uptake was visible above, more intense than striata. On fused MRI, this was the pineal gland considered as physiological. This physiological uptake, due to a pineal DOPA decarboxylase activity, has also been observed with this PET system in other patients with F-DOPA to explore movement disorders. New high-resolution PET can show uptake of small structures by being less dependent to partial volume effect.