title: Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with (90)Y-DOTATOC in recurrent meningioma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Meningiomas are generally benign and in most cases surgery is curative. However, for high-grade histotypes or partially resected tumours, recurrence is fairly common. External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is usually given in such cases but is not always effective. We assessed peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) using (90)Y-DOTATOC in a group of patients with meningioma recurring after standard treatments in all of whom somatostatin receptors were strongly expressed on meningioma cell surfaces.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-nine patients with scintigraphically proven somatostatin subtype 2 receptor-positive meningiomas were enrolled: 14 had benign (grade I), 9 had atypical (grade II) and 6 had malignant (grade III) disease. Patients received intravenous (90)Y-DOTATOC for 2-6 cycles for a cumulative dose in the range of 5-15 GBq. Clinical and neuroradiological evaluations were performed at baseline, during and after PRRT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The treatment was well tolerated in all patients. MRI 3 months after treatment completion showed disease stabilization in 19 of 29 patients (66%) and progressive disease in the remaining 10 (34%). Better results were obtained in patients with grade I meningioma than in those with grade II-III, with median time to progression (from beginning PRRT) of 61 months in the low-grade group and 13 months in the high-grade group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PRRT with (90)Y-DOTATOC can interfere with the growth of meningiomas. The adjuvant role of this treatment, soon after surgery, especially in atypical and malignant histotypes, deserves further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435, 20141, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Mirco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartolomei
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bodei
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Cicco
authors.forename: Chiara Maria
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Grana
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cremonesi
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Botteri
authors.forename: Silvia Melania
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Baio
authors.forename: Demetrio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aricò
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sansovini
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paganelli