Abstract
The somatostatin (SS) receptor scintigraphy (SRS), using octreotide radiolabelled
with 111In (Ocreoscan©, OCT), is a consolidated diagnostic procedure in patients with
neuroendocrine tumors (NET) because of an increased expression of somatostatin receptors
(SS-R) on neoplastic cells. Uptake of SS analogues (SSA) can also be due to SS-R expression
on nonmalignant cells when activated as lymphocytes, macrophages, fibroblasts, vascular
cells. Because of this uptake, clinical indications can be found either in neoplasms
not overexpressing SS-R, as nonsmall cell lung cancer, and in active benign diseases.
Nevertheless, clinical application of SRS has not found clinical relevance yet. In
this paper, we discuss the nononcologic fields of clinical interest in which SRS could
play a clinical role such as diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of benign and chronic
diseases such as sarcoidosis, histiocytosis, rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic pulmonary
fibrosis, and Graves' ophthalmopathy.
Keywords
Autoimmune diseases - diagnostic imaging - Graves’ ophthalmopathy - octreotide - osteomalacia
- paraneoplastic syndromes - sarcoidosis - somatostatin