Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Several radiolabeled somatostatin analogues have been developed for molecular imaging of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron-emission tomography (PET). The aim of the present study was to report our first results using (64)Cu-DOTATOC in patients with NETs. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with NETs (15 female, 18 male; mean age 64 ± 13 years) were included in this retrospective study. (64)Cu-DOTATOC PET-CT scans were performed on all patients. RESULTS: Five out of 33 patients with a history of NET after surgical removal of the primary lesion showed no pathological lesions on PET-CT imaging and 8/33 patients had enhanced uptake in the area of recurrent meningioma at the skull base. The remaining 20/33 patients had a history of neuroendocrine tumor in the gastrointestinal tract (GEP-NET) and were presented with at least one pathological lesion. CONCLUSION: The high detection rate of suspected lesions in patients with NETs and the high target-to-background contrast found in this study hold promise for the safe application of (64)Cu-DOTATOC in patients with NET.