Molecular Pituitary Imaging Using 18F-FET PET (FET-pit-PET)

January 5, 2026 updated by: Professor Mark Gurnell, University of Cambridge

Exploring the Potential for 18F-fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine (18F-FET) to Enable Wider Access to Molecular Imaging for Patients With Pituitary Adenomas (FET-pit-PET Study)

The goal of this single centre pilot study is to explore whether 18F-fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine PET (FET-PET) yields comparable findings to 11C-methionine PET (Met-PET) for the localisation of pituitary tumours.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Up to 20 patients with pituitary adenomas (PA) who have previously undergone 11C-methionine PET (Met-PET) as part of routine clinical care will undergo 18F-fluoroethyltyrosine PET (FET-PET). Patients with newly diagnosed PA or residual/recurrent pituitary tumours following previous treatment will be eligible for recruitment to the study.

Quantitative and qualitative analyses will be performed to assess whether MET-PET and FET-PET yield comparable findings in patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent PA.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
    • Cambridgeshire
      • Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, CB2 0QQ
        • Recruiting
        • Cambridge University Hospitals
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Mark Gurnell, PhD FRCP

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion criteria

  • Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study
  • Male or female, age 18 or above
  • Presence of pituitary adenoma suspected on the basis of clinical/biochemical and/or radiological findings
  • Previous 11C-Met-PET/CT

Exclusion criteria

  • Inability to give informed consent
  • Pregnancy or suspected pregnancy
  • Inability to lie supine for 30-60 minutes
  • Patient body habitus above scanner dimensions
  • Known allergy to intravenous radiographic contrast agents

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Study cohort
All patient's enrolled in the study will undergo an 18F-FET-PET
Diagnostic test: 18F-Fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine (FET) PET
18F-Fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine PET study of the pituitary

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Maximum Standardized Uptake Values (SUVmax) over pituitary tumour on each of 11C-methionine and 18F-fluoroethyltyrosine PET scans
Time Frame: 1 day
Comparison of maximum Standardized Uptake Values (SUVmax) measured over pituitary tumours on each type of PET scan.
1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Maximum Standardized Uptake Values (SUVmax) over normal pituitary gland and parasellar structures (e.g. cavernous sinuses) on each of 11C-methionine and 18F-fluoroethyltyrosine PET scans
Time Frame: 1 day
Comparison of maximum Standardized Uptake Values (SUVmax) measured over normal pituitary gland and parasellar structures (e.g. cavernous sinuses) on each type of PET scan.
1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Cambridge

Collaborators

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Mark Gurnell, MD, PhD, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 3, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 2, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 24, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 30, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

September 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 6, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 24/LO/0542

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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