Octreotide Scintigraphy in Thyroid Orbitopathy Gammagrafía Con Octreótido En La Orbitopatía Distiroidea

Introduction: Graves’ disease, which has an autoimmune basis, is associated with the infiltration of activated lymphocytes into the retrobulbar tissues of the eye. These activated lymphocytes express somatostatin receptors on their surface which mediate the inflammatory response. Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of 111InOctreotide scintigraphy in the identification of orbital activity in Graves’ disease and the usefulness of treatment with a somatostatin analogue, based on a pre-established protocol within the Nuclear Medicine Department. Methods: We studied a group of eighteen patients with symptomatic Graves’ ophthalmopathy of between two months and four years duration. We injected 6 mCi of 111In-Octreotide parenterally, and performed scintigraphy four and twenty-four hours later. Four patients, all in the active phase, showed orbital somatostatin receptors, for which they were treated with lanreotide 60 mg every fifteen days for three months. Patients were reviewed after 3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE