Hot Embolus Artifact Mimicking Disease Progression in Post-therapy 177Lu-DOTATATE Scan: Incremental Value of SPECT/CT

AbstractPeptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) has become an established treatment for patients with inoperable and/or metastatic, well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors with overexpression of somatostatin receptor type 2 (SSTR-2). The post-therapy177Lu-DOTATATE whole-body scan not only assesses the biodistribution of the lesions seen on pre-therapy68 Ga-SSTR PET/CT scan but also provides a quick assessment of disease status and dosimetry during treatment. Like any other radionuclide scan, the whole-body177Lu-DOTATATE scan may also show abnormal radiotracer uptake, which may require further imaging to establish its exact etiology. Though radiotracer emboli mimicking focal pulmonary lesions have been described with18F-FDG and68 Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT scans, similar artifacts with post-therapy177Lu-DOTATATE scans have not been described. Herein, we report two cases of hot emboli in the post-therapy177Lu-DOTATATE scans.
Source: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging - Category: Nuclear Medicine Source Type: research