Octreotide Scan

Your physician has requested that you have an Indium Octreotide scan. This is a safe, simple, non-invasive way to evaluate the tissues of your body for the presence of neuroendocrine tumors.  Indium-111 is a radioactive element. The radioactivity associated with the injection of Indium is negligible. The injection will not make you feel dizzy, nauseated, hot or cold. Octreotide is a polypeptide, which targets somatostatin receptor rich tissues in your body. Several tumors will express a large amount of somatostatin receptors. We can use Indium Octreotide to localize and image many of these tumors.

Approximate exam time: 1 hour the first day and 3 hours on the following days.

To outline our requirements, you will:

1. After registration report to Medical Imaging.
2. You will be escorted to Nuclear Medicine and a short history will be taken.
3. The Indium Octreotide will be administered through a vein in your arm.
4. Four hours after your injection you will return and images of your body will be obtained.
5. For two days following your injection you will be given a time to return for a Whole Body Scan and Spect Imaging.
6. On the day(s) of the scan(s), several images will be obtained. Each day you return you can expect to be in the Nuclear Medicine Department for approximately 3 hours.
7. The Radiologist will review the images before you are released from the department.
8. Additional images may be necessary at the discretion of the Radiologist on the following days.
9. Total study time may take several hours per day of imaging.
10. Once the imaging is complete you will be released from the radiology department.
11. A Radiologist will read the test and the results will be sent to the ordering physician.

Note: Inpatients will be escorted to Nuclear Medicine.