title: Role of (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT in the evaluation of primary pulmonary carcinoids.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although carcinoid tumors usually have good prognosis, early and specific diagnosis is important. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging do not provide findings that are specific for carcinoids, and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy suffers from low spatial resolution. 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) has limited sensitivity for carcinoids due to low uptake of the marker. A PET/CT system that uses the somatostatin receptor-based PET tracer 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N(I),N(II),N(III),N(IIII)-tetraacetic acid (D)-Phe(1)-thy(3)-octreotide ((68)Ga-DOTATOC) has also been used in the evaluation of carcinoids, although information regarding its use for the detection of primary pulmonary carcinoids is limited. Thus, we investigated the value of (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT for the diagnosis of primary pulmonary carcinoid tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective analysis of patients with primary pulmonary tumors who underwent (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT. All the patients had a histopathologic diagnosis of carcinoid. The rate of detection of primary pulmonary carcinoid tumors using (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty patients were diagnosed as having carcinoid, and 19 tumors showed significant uptake on (68)Ga-DOTATOC (detection rate, 95%). The maximal standardized uptake value (SUV(max)) ranged from 1.1 to 66, with a median value of 21.6. In one patient, (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT revealed additional lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that (68)Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT is useful in the evaluation of primary pulmonary carcinoids and should be included in the diagnostic work-up of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Tarun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jindal
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Balasubramanian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Venkitaraman
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015282:Octreotide / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015282:Octreotide; C106246:Edotreotide