The scintigraphy of somatostatin receptors in the carcinoid tumor

UNLABELLED: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of 111In-DTPA-D-Phe1-octreotide scintigraphy in the different situations that can be present when an examination is requested during the clinical course of the carcinoid tumor (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have performed 41 scintigraphies with 111In-octreotide (145-185 MBq) in 35 patients (19 females and 16 males) with clinically suspected or confirmed CT. The patients were classified into five groups: Group A: Indolent symptoms of CT (n=9); B: CT staging located in lung (n=4), stomach (n=2), cecum (n=1), thymus (n=1) and pancreas (n=1); C: Carcinoid syndrome (n=1); D: CT staging after surgery located in pancreas (n=1), ovary (n=1), cecum (n=1), stomach (n=1), appendix (n=1) and ileum (n=1); and E: Post-treatment follow-up (n=13), with CT located in bronchial tree (n=5), small intestine (n=3), appendix (n=2), thymus (n=1), ovary (n=1) and unknown primary tumor (n=1). Three patients of this group had one scintigraphic study before the treatment. Head and neck, thorax and abdomen images were obtained at 4 and 24 h in all of the patients and SPECT images of the abdomen (n=14), thorax (n=10), and brain (n=1) were obtained at 24 h in 25 patients. RESULTS: Group A: In the 3 patients with a positive scintigraphy, the definitive diagnosis was meningioma, Hurtle cell's carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma. The clinical follow-up in the six other patients, at least during one year, did not show any evidence of CT. Group B: Six of the 9 CT were detected with the scintigraphy. In 2 cases of bronchial CT, the scan showed sarcoidotic regional lymph node involvement and CT hepatic and bone metastases, respectively. Group C: The scintigraphy detected hepatic metastases from an unknown primary tumor. Group D: The scintigraphy was positive in 3 cases (hepatic or/and abdominal metastases) and was normal in the other 3. The scintigraphy was negative in one patient with peritoneal metastases. Group E: The scintigraphy was normal in 7 patients in concordance with the clinical follow-up. In 3 patients with a scintigraphy performed prior to treatment, the scintigraphy detected recurrence (thymic CT), progression of the metastatic disease (ovarian CT) and partial regression of the hepatic metastases (carcinoid syndrome). In the three other patients, the scintigraphy showed metastases located in liver in one patient and hepatic and extra-hepatic metastases in the two other patients. The sensitivity and specificity of 111In-Octreotide in the detection of the primary tumor and metastases were 72% and 84% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The 111In-Octreotide scintigraphy has a low diagnostic utility in patients with indolent symptoms of CT. However, it is the first line of diagnosis for the staging of the CT and to evaluate the follow up after therapy.