Emerging Role of 177Lu in Nuclear Oncology: A Brief Review

Abstract

 With the innovations in nuclear medicine techniques, Lutetium 177 (¹⁷⁷Lu) has epitomized as a revolutionary theranostic agent- with both scintigraphic and therapeutic properties. The present review focusses on the introduction of ¹⁷⁷Lu as a promising modality for tumor diagnosis and therapy in widespread metastases . Being a shorter β-range emitter providing better irradiation of smaller tumor volumes, ¹⁷⁷Lu- based PRRT is being increasingly used in patients with somatostatin receptor positive neuroendocrine tumors. Clinical trials with ¹⁷⁷Lu–DOTATATE and ¹⁷⁷Lu–DOTATOC have gained considerable interest in recent years with successful tumor regression in patients with malignant metastatic neuroendocrine tumors. Especially, therapy with ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATATE PRRT has reported to significantly improve the quality of life of Gastroenteropancreatic NET patients because of higher affinity of DOTATATE for the somatostatin type 2 receptors. In addition, this review also sheds light on the diagnostic and palliative aspects of ¹⁷⁷Lu which also serves to be an attractive candidate for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals for radiation synovectomy of small to medium sized joints. Enlisting all the said features, ¹⁷⁷Lu is strongly emerging as a promising theranostic agent that could possibly endow Nuclear Medicine an edge over other conventional therapies in near future.