title: PET/CT With 68Ga-DOTA-TATE for Diagnosis of Neuroendocrine: Differentiation in Patients With Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) often shows histological evidence of neuroendocrine differentiation (NED). To evaluate the extent of NED in patients with CRPC, we used PET/CT with Ga-[DOTA-Tyr]-octreotate (Ga-DOTA-TATE), a somatostatin analog that binds somatostatin receptor 2 with high affinity. This radiotracer is used in imaging of neuroendocrine tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve patients (mean age, 65 [SD, 12] years) with CRPC were studied. Their mean prostate-specific antigen level at scanning was 85.6 (SD, 144.6) ng/mL. PET/CT images were obtained after the injection of 120 to 200 MBq of Ga-DOTA-TATE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All participants had at least 1 blastic metastasis demonstrating uptake of Ga-DOTA-TATE (mean SUVmax of 5.3 [SD, 2.3]). In 6 patients, moderately high to high uptakes (SUVmax, >5) were seen. Patients with multiple bone metastases had a significantly higher SUVmax compared with patients with few metastases (mean of 5.8 vs 3.8, P = 0.05). In 4 patients, lytic bone lesions or lymph node metastases also showed uptake of the tracer (mean SUVmax of 7.2 [SD, 3.2]). Uptake of the radiotracer was also observed in bones showing normal architecture in CT, suggesting that NED cells appear early during metastases development.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Uptake of Ga-DOTA-TATE is a common finding in metastases of CRPC patients, suggesting that NED is frequent in these patients. In half of the patients, widespread uptake of Ga-DOTA-TATE was observed. This suggests that the possibility of treating selected CRCP patients with anti-neuroendocrine tumor therapies should be explored and that Ga-DOTA-TATE scanning could have a role in predicting the efficacy of these treatments.
authors: From the Departments of *Urology, †Oncology, and ‡Nuclear Medicine, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors: Ofer Nathan
authors: ON
authors: Gofrit
authors: Stephen
authors: S
authors: Frank
authors: Amichay
authors: A
authors: Meirovitz
authors: Hovav
authors: H
authors: Nechushtan
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Orevi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018358:Neuroendocrine Tumors / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; D064129:Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
chemical_list: D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C513399:gallium Ga 68 dotatate