No abstract

Tumour stage and the percentage difference in 1 h and 2 h SUVt showed potential as prognostic indicators of long-term survival.

There is considerable variation of pharyngeal palatine tonsil FDG uptake in patients with no pharyngeal palatine tonsil primary cancer. However, in the same patient there is generally only a small difference in uptake between left and right sides. The absolute difference in SUVmax between left and right pharyngeal palatine tonsil is a potentially useful parameter for distinguishing between normal FDG uptake in pharyngeal palatine tonsil from occult pharyngeal palatine tonsil primary cancer.

Summary Fourteen patients suffering from advanced colorectal (n = 7), pancreatic (n = 4) or gastric (n = 3) carcinomas received treatment with microencapsulated octreotide pamoate 90 mg i.m. every 4 weeks (n = 4), 160 mg i.m. every 4 weeks (n = 4) or 160 mg i.m. every 2 weeks (n = 6). Two patients had stable disease, one for 4 and one for 6 months. Plasma insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I decreased by 49-53%, IGF-11 by 27-37% and total IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 by 16-190/o, whereas IGFBP-1 increased by 35.55%. Insulin and Cpeptide levels decreased by 29-38% and 41-46% respectively. A non-significant decrease in urinary GH secretion and an increase in the ratio of fragmented to intact IGFBP-3 as well as IGFBP-3 protease activity was seen. The increase in IGFBP-3 fragmentation correlated negatively with alterations in IGF-I and IGF-II (P< 0.05). We conclude that microencapsulated octreotide administered in doses up to 160 mg every 2 weeks is well tolerated and has pronounced effects on several components of the IGF system in plasma. In addition, changes in IGFBP-3 protease actvity because of cancer may contribute to alterations in IGF-I and -Il, indicating the importance of measuring this parameter in addition to IGFs and IGFBPs when evaluating alterations in IGF-I.