Arora Saurabh, Rastogi Sameer, Shamim Shamim Ahmed, Barward Adarsh Wamanrao, Passah Benjamin Leroy
Department of Nuclear Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Department of Medical Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Indian J Nucl Med. 2020 Jul-Sep;35(3):241-243. doi: 10.4103/ijnm.IJNM_33_20. Epub 2020 Jul 1.
Gastric neuroendocrine tumors (G-NETs) express somatostatin receptors (SSTR), which can be imaged using radiolabeled somatostatin analogs, including Ga-DOTA octreotide analogs. SSTR expression is also seen in activated lymphocytes and macrophages, which might result in false-positive results on SSTR imaging, in patients with coexistent granulomatous pathologies including tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, and Wegener's granulomatosis. We present a case where Ga-DOTANOC positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) showed primary G-NET, with SSTR expressing nonregional lymph nodes which on histopathology showed necrotizing granulomas with Langhans histiocytes. Antitubercular therapy was started, and a decrease in size and SSTR expression in involved lymph nodes was noted on follow-up Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT.