Fluorine F-18 6-Fluorodopamine PET in Diagnosing Patients with Neuroblastoma or Pheochromocytoma

Inclusion Criteria

• Patients with known or suspected neuroblastoma or pheochromocytoma are eligible. 18F-DA PET/computed tomography (CT) scanning will not be the initial imaging study in a newly diagnosed patient
• Patients with positive findings on prior imaging within the past 10 weeks are eligible
• Prior therapy is allowed
• Patients > 1 year of age, under the care of a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH) physician
• Patients of both genders, and all ethnic groups, under the care of a SJCRH physician
• Female participants of childbearing age must not be lactating due to theoretical potential harm to the infant from exposure to radiation
• Informed consent signed by participant, parent, or guardian according to the guidelines of the institutional review board
• Patients may undergo a repeat study one or more years following the initial FLOPET scan

Exclusion Criteria

• Inability or unwillingness of patient, parent, or guardian to consent
• Pregnancy or lactation. Future plans for pregnancy do not exclude patient participation. Patients should not become pregnant within one month of completion of 18F-DA PET scan
• Use of medications known to interfere with 123I-mIBG uptake (principal considerations are phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine containing compounds which need to be discontinued for 48 hours, and labetalol which needs to be discontinued for 6 weeks)
• Patients less than 3 years of age who require a total length of anesthesia time greater than 3 hours (for the 18F-fluorodopamine [FLO]PET scan in conjunction with another clinical procedure requiring sedation) will be excluded from the study