Increased uptake of indium-111 pentetreotide up to 10 years after external thoracic irradiation: report of two cases

Eur J Nucl Med. 1996 Jun;23(6):723-6. doi: 10.1007/BF00834537.

Abstract

Indium-111 pentetreotide scintigraphy was performed in two patients for the localization of recurrent medullary thyroid carcinoma treated by surgery and external radiotherapy 1 and 10 years earlier. A marked uptake of the radiopharmaceutical was demonstrated in the lung areas that had been irradiated. These cases strongly suggest that this uptake is related to pulmonary fibrosis, a well-known complication of radiotherapy, even long after the irradiation. Therefore, attention must be paid to the avoidance of false-positive interpretation of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in patients previously treated by radiotherapy.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Carcinoma, Medullary / diagnostic imaging*
  • Carcinoma, Medullary / radiotherapy
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • False Positive Reactions
  • Humans
  • Indium Radioisotopes*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / diagnostic imaging*
  • Radiation Pneumonitis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Radionuclide Imaging
  • Somatostatin / analogs & derivatives*
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / radiotherapy
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Indium Radioisotopes
  • Somatostatin
  • pentetreotide