Long-term efficacy of high-activity 111in-pentetreotide therapy in patients with disseminated neuroendocrine tumors.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Radiopharmaceuticals in this clinical trial publication.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 16 patients taking part.

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

The case records of 16 patients who had received high activities of (111)In-pentetreotide (with cumulative activities as high as 36.6 GBq) over a 2.5-y period, from January 1, 1997, to June 30, 2000, were reviewed.

There were 8 female and 8 male patients (age range, 32-76 y): 10 patients had carcinoid, 2 had medullary cell carcinoma of the thyroid, and 1 each had a gastrinoma, glucagonoma, fibrolamellar cancer, and malignant histiocytoma.

How the Study Was Run

The minimum number of treatments received was 1 in 2 patients (with activities of 3.1 and 7 GBq); the maximum was 10 treatments (total, 36.6 GBq).

Treatment was given using an infusion pump and was repeated at 4- to 12-wk intervals (mean number of treatments per patient, 6).

Response to therapy was determined by changes in the size of the tumor on CT using the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors.

Toxicity was measured using blood and urine tests of renal, hepatic, thyroid, and bone marrow function.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine, Disease-Free Survival, Liver Neoplasms, Radiation Injuries, Radiopharmaceuticals, Somatostatin and Survival Rate.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of Radiopharmaceuticals in 16 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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 12 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2003 (Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: all human trials.