Radionuclide imaging and therapy in patients with neuroendocrine tumors

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are heterogeneous group of the tumors that arise from the enterochromaffin cells of the diffuse neuroendocrine system and occurr in 0.5% of all neoplasms. Recently there has been a significant increase in the incidence of neuroendocrine tumors, which is undoubtedly associated with the improvement of diagnostic methods. However, despite significant success in studying the biological and molecular mechanisms of its behavior, a single algorithm for the diagnosis and treatment of neuroendocrine tumors remains unclear today. Treatment of neuroendocrine tumors largely depends on their functional status and the stage of the disease. While the treatment of localized NETs is surgical resection, varieties of therapeutic options are available for patients with advanced NETs. These include medical control of excess hormone levels and associated symptoms, cytoreductive surgery for patients with advanced disease, systemic chemotherapy, somatostatin analogues, and peptide receptor-targeted radionuclide therapy. However, the right choice of the therapeutic approach in current clinical practice in heterogeneous group of patients with neuroendocrine tumors requires further discussion.