Radioisotope-guided surgery in patients with neuroendocrine tumours

We evaluated a hand-held scintillation detector for intra-operative localisation of somatostatin-receptor-positive tumours in situ, and after excision, as an addition to preoperative scintigraphy with [111In-DTPA-Phe1]octreotide. Using the hand-held detector, the suspect tumour/normal tissue ratio R(in situ) between measurements was calculated for 23 patients with neuroendocrine tumours. The count rates of excised tumour and normal tissue were also measured ex vivo and their ratio R(ex vivo) was calculated. In midgut carcinoid (MC) patients (all scintigraphy positive), 4/29 macroscopically identified tumours gave false R(in situ). Tumour/blood 111In activity (T/B) ratios measured in a gamma counter were all high (27-650). In patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (8/10 scintigraphy positive), misleading R(in situ) were found in 4/37 macroscopically identified tumours. T/B ratios were lower (3-39) than those seen in MC patients. 2/4 patients with endocrine pancreatic tumours (EPTs) had positive scintigraphy, reliable intra-operative measurements, and very high T/B ratios (910-1,500). 1 patient with a gastric carcinoid had correct R(in situ) and R(ex vivo), with high T/B ratios (71-210). 1 patient with sporadic insulinoma had negative scintigraphy and 1 patient with neuroendocrine carcinoma of the uterus also had low T/B ratios. In most cases, in situ measurements added little information to preoperative scintigraphy and surgical findings. The very high T/B ratios seen in MC tumours and some EPTs seem promising for future radiotherapy via somatostatin receptors.