RADIOLABELED OCTREOTIDE FOR THE DEMONSTRATION OF SOMATOSTATIN RECEPTORS IN MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA AND LYMPHADENOPATHY

This prospective study evaluated somatostatin receptor-specific scinti graphy as a clinical tool for routine detection of malignant lymphoma. Methods: Forty-one consecutive patients over examined using In-111-DT PA-D-Phe-1-octreotide. Thirty-four patients had diagnoses of Hodgkin's disease (n = 11) or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n = 23) previously verifi ed and staged by hematology, histology and imaging methods (CT, chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasonography). The remaining seven patients ini tially suspected of presenting lymphoma (n = 5) or lymphoma recurrence after chemotherapy and radiotherapy (n = 2) were subsequently shown t o have other diseases. Planar images were recorded 4, 24 and 48 hr aft er intravenous injection and evaluated without knowledge of other resu lts. In case of negative planar scintigraphy, additional spect images were obtained. Since these failed to increase sensitivity, they were o mitted after 15 negative recordings. Results: Octreotide scintigraphy did not yield false-positive results. The sensitivity for detecting Ho dgkin's disease was 70% and varied from 88% in the neck and chest to 1 3% in the abdomen and pelvis. The sensitivity for non-Hodgkin's lympho ma was not influenced by localization and amounted uniformly to 35% bu t varied with the degree of malignancy between 44% (high-grade) and 29 % (low-grade malignancy). Conclusion: Our results suggest that radiola beled octreotide is better suited to characterize somatostatin recepto r expressing lymphomas than to localize lesion sites. It is useful for imaging Hodgkin's disease, especially above the diaphragm.