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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Somatostatin receptor imaging helps diagnose insulin tumors in dogs

By Garden, Oliver A et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2005·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Somatostatin receptor imaging in vivo by planar scintigraphy facilitates the diagnosis of canine insulinomas.

Species:
dog

Plain-English summary

A 7-year-old male dog was diagnosed with an insulinoma, a type of tumor that causes low blood sugar levels, after showing signs of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and high insulin levels. The vet used a special imaging test called OctreoScan to help locate the tumor, which revealed abnormal activity in the pancreas. While the imaging was helpful, it only accurately pinpointed the tumor's location in one of the five dogs tested. The treatment for insulinomas often involves surgery to remove the tumor, and the outcome can vary depending on the case.

People also search for: dog insulinoma symptoms · OctreoScan for dogs · low blood sugar in dogs treatment

Abstract

Somatostatin receptors expressed by insulinomas in 5 dogs were imaged in vivo by means of indium in 111 pentetreotide (OctreoScan) scintigraphy. The diagnosis in each dog was supported by the presence of hypoglycemia (<60 mg/dL), hyperinsulinemia (>20 microU/mL), and histopathologic review of neoplastic tissue. All insulinomas expressed high-affinity somatostatin receptors of subtype sst2, as shown by receptor autoradiography in vitro using 125I-[tyrosine3]-octreotide and 125I-[leucine8, Dtryptophan22, tyrosine25]-somatostatin-28 with an sst2 subtype-selective analogue. Scintigrams were obtained at 1, 4, 12, and 24 hours after the i.v. administration of 74-222 MBq of OctreoScan to each patient. Abnormal foci of activity were 1st observed from 1 hour after administration of the radioligand in dog 3, to 24 hours after its administration in dog 4; in dogs 1 and 2, abnormal foci of activity were visible from 12 hours. Dog 5 showed a questionable abnormal focus of activity at 12 hours, but not at 24 hours. Scintigraphy enabled accurate prediction of the anatomical location of the primary tumor in 1 of 4 dogs, but was unable to differentiate a right- from a left-pancreatic lobe tumor, or vice versa, in 3 dogs; the 5th dog had equivocal results. 111In-pentetreotide scintigraphy is a useful diagnostic adjunct to the clinical evaluation of the insulinoma patient, but is unable to localize the tumor in some cases.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15822560/