title: Imaging of neuroendocrine gastro-entero-pancreatic tumours using radiolabelled somatostatin analogues.
abstract: Neuroendocrine tumours of the gastro-entero-pancreatic tract are an uncommon clinical entity and are believed to arise from the endocrine cells of the gastrointestinal tract. Somatostatin receptor imaging is a diagnostic tool which allows visualization of somatostatin receptor bearing tumours. This scintigraphic procedure is performed with indium-111 labelled octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, chelated with diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid. Radionuclide imaging consists in detecting the biodistribution of somatostatin receptors, normally expressed on the cell surface of neuroendocrine gastro-entero-pancreatic tumours. To date, five types of this receptor have been cloned: indium-111-labelled-pentetreotide can visualize tumours expressing type 2 and 5 receptors. The results of our study, which involved 81 neuroendocrine gastro-entero-pancreatic tumour patients, confirm the superior sensitivity of somatostatin receptor imaging (61%) for primary tumour evaluation with respect to conventional imaging modalities such as computed tomography (40%) or ultrasound (28%). Scintigraphic findings in metastatic liver disease proved to have a sensitivity of 89% for somatostatin receptor imaging, versus 81% and 88% for computed tomography and ultrasound, respectively. In 23% of patients, lesions were found with somatostatin receptor imaging which had been missed using the other diagnostic modalities; in 26% of the patients the therapeutic approach was modified after somatostatin receptor imaging.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Department, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiti
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: van Graafeiland
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savelli
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seregni
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Castellani
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bombardieri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018358:Neuroendocrine Tumors / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015282:Octreotide; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017481:Receptors, Somatostatin / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D017481:Receptors, Somatostatin; D015282:Octreotide