Radiopeptide transmitted internal irradiation of non-iodophil thyroid cancer and conventionally untreatable medullary thyroid cancer using.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Octreotide and Somatostatin in this clinical trial publication.

Differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTC) and medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) overexpress somatostatin receptor subtypes (sstr).

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the tumour response of thyroid carcinomas to targeted irradiation with the radiolabelled somatostatin analogue [90Y]-1,4,7,10-tetra-azacyclododecan-4,7,10-tricarboxy-methyl-1-yl-acetyl-D-Phe1-Tyr3-octreotide ([90Y]-DOTA-D-Phe1-Tyr3-octreotide, or 90Y-DOTATOC) which has a high affinity to subtype 2 and a low affinity to subtype 5.

It shows no affinity to sstr1, sstr3 and sstr4.

Who Took Part

The study group was 12 patients.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

All patients had been therapy resistant and had progressive disease before 90Y-DOTATOC therapy.

In the case of tumour progression under therapy, treatment was terminated.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a pilot study.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Octreotide study would be practical.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Anemia, Kidney Diseases, Lymphopenia, Octreotide, Pilot Projects, Radionuclide Imaging and Radiopharmaceuticals.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a pilot study of Octreotide and Somatostatin in 12 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 8 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2001 (Nuclear medicine communications), a journal based in England.

More context: the related Octreotide library page, all human trials.