Prospective Multicentric Assessment of Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT in Grade 1-2 GEP-NET

Simple Summary Determining the most sensitive imaging technique to evaluate neuroendocrine tumors spread may have an impact on therapeutic management. The aim of this multicentric study was to prospectively assess Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT sensitivity compared to the combination of multiphasic CT, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy and MRI to evaluate whether this imaging modality results in therapeutic modifications. We confirm in a homogenous population of 105 grade 1 or 2 gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors the higher sensitivity of Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT in per-patient and per-region analysis, as well as in the detection of primary tumor and small lesions such as peritoneal carcinomatosis and bone lesions leading to an impact on therapeutic management of almost half of the patients. The aim of this multicentric study was to prospectively compare Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT versus somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) with SPECT/CT, combined with multiphasic CT scan and MRI in patients with grade 1 or 2 gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET). Patients with histologically proven grade 1 or 2 GEP-NET with suspicion of recurrence or progression, or with typical aspects of GEP-NET on morphological imaging, were explored with conventional imaging (CI): SRS with SPECT/CT, multiphasic CT scan and/or liver MRI followed by Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT. The gold standard was based on histology and imaging follow-up. The data of 105 patients (45 woman and 60 men; median age) were analyzed. Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT sensitivity was significantly higher than CI sensitivity in per-patient (98.9% vs. 88.6%, p = 0.016) and per-region (97.6% vs. 75.6%, p < 0.001) analyses, in the detection of the primary (97.9% vs. 78.7%; p = 0.016), peritoneal carcinomatosis (95% vs. 30%, p < 0.001), and bone metastases (100% vs. 33.3%, p = 0.041). Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT had an impact on the therapeutic management of 41.9% (44/105) patients compared to decisions based on CI explorations. Our data confirm the superiority of Ga-68-DOTANOC PET/CT over CI in the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis and bone metastasis, as well as its strong therapeutic impact on the management of patients with grade 1-2 GEP-NETs.