Background: The authors report their preliminary experience and results of the use of 111In-DTPA-octreotide scintigraphy (octreoscan) in the staging of neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine tumors of the lung.
Materials and methods: From July 1995 to May 1996 twenty-six scintigraphic studies were performed in patients affected by lung cancer at the Department of Thoracic Surgery and at the Service of Nuclear Medicine of the University of Turin.
Results: Scintigraphy made it possible to detect the lesion in all the patients affected by neuroendocrine tumors and in 63.2% of the patients affected by non-neuroendocrine neoplasm of the lung. Scintigraphy also revealed mediastinal lymphnodal metastases in patients in which thoracic CT scan was negative: this result was confirmed by postoperative TNM.
Conclusions: The authors stress the importance of 111In-DTPA-octreotide scintigraphy in a correct procedure of staging of neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine tumors of the lung and in the follow-up of neoplastic patients.