Implementation of patient dosimetry in the clinical practice after targeted radiotherapy using [(177)Lu-[DOTA0, Tyr3]-octreotate

BACKGROUND: This study’s aim was to develop our dosimetric methodology using a commercial workstation for the routine evaluation of the organs at risk during peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with (177)Lu. METHODS: First, planar and SPECT sensitivity factors were determined on phantoms. The reconstruction parameters were optimized by SPECT/CT image acquisition using a NEMA IEC phantom containing a 500 ml bottle of (177)Lu, to simulate a kidney. The recovery coefficients were determined on various phantoms. For the red marrow, this was calculated using a NEMA IEC phantom that contained a centrally placed bottle of 80 ml of (177)Lu (to model the L2-L4 red marrow) flanked by two 200 ml bottles with (177)Lu to simulate the kidneys. Then, SPECT/CT images were acquired at 4, 24, 72, and 192 h after injection in 12 patients with neuroendocrine tumors who underwent PRRT with (177)Lu-DOTATATE. SPECT data were reconstructed using the iterative ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) method, with six iterations and ten subsets, attenuation, scatter, recovery resolution corrections, and a Gaussian post-filter of 0.11 cm. The liver, spleen, kidneys, and red marrow dose per administered activity (AD/A admin) values were calculated with the Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) formalism and the residence times (Dosimetry toolkit® application) using standard and CT imaging-based organ masses (OLINDA/EXM® V1.0 software). RESULTS: Sensitivity factors of 6.11 ± 0.01 and 5.67 ± 0.08 counts/s/MBq were obtained with planar and SPECT/CT acquisitions, respectively. A recovery coefficient of 0.78 was obtained for the modeled L2–L4 red marrow. The mean AD/A admin values were 0.43 ± 0.13 mGy/MBq [0.27–0.91] for kidneys, 0.54 ± 0.58 mGy/MBq [0.12–2.26] for liver, 0.61 ± 0.13 mGy/MBq [0.42–0.89] for spleen, and 0.04 ± 0.02 mGy/MBq [0.01–0.09] for red marrow. The AD/A admin values varied when calculated using the personalized and standard organ mass, particularly for kidneys (p = 1 × 10(−7)), spleen (p = 0.0069), and red marrow (p = 0.0027). Intra-patient differences were observed especially in organs close to or including tumor cells or metastases. CONCLUSIONS: The obtained AD/A admin values were in agreement with the literature data. This study shows the technical feasibility of patient dosimetry in clinical practice and the need to obtain patient-specific information.