Plasma Pancreastatin Predicts the Outcome of Surgical Cytoreduction in Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Small Bowel.

Objectives: Elevated pancreastatin (PST) levels have been shown to be associated with poor prognosis in small bowel neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). We hypothesized that plasma PST levels that remain elevated following surgical cytoreduction portend a poor prognosis in well-differentiated small bowel NETs.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with small bowel NETs who underwent surgical cytoreduction at our institution were identified.

Development of effective prophylaxis against intraoperative carcinoid crisis.

Study Objective: The prophylactic use of a preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative high-dose continuous octreotide acetate infusion was evaluated for its ability to minimize the incidence of carcinoid crises during neuroendocrine tumor (NET) cytoreductive surgeries.

Design: A retrospective study was approved by the institutional review boards at Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

Setting: Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner operating room and multispecialty NET clinic.

A single fasting plasma 5-HIAA value correlates with 24-hour urinary 5-HIAA values and other biomarkers in midgut neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).

Objectives: 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) is used for the evaluation of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) but currently requires a 24-hour urine collection.

Methods: We developed a gas chromatography mass spectroscopy-based plasma 5-HIAA assay. We compared 24-hour urine 5-HIAA values against plasma 5-HIAA values in 115 mixed-variety patients with NETs and in a subset of 72 patients with only small bowel NETs.

Validation of neurokinin a assays in the United States and Europe.

Objectives: International cooperative group trials require specific, sensitive biomarker assays that are validated between continents. Neurokinin A (NKA) has been shown to be a powerful independent predictor of a poor prognosis in well-differentiated midgut neuroendocrine tumors. We hypothesized that NKA concentrations of clinical specimens evaluated in NKA assays in the United States and the United Kingdom would be equivalent, even though assay techniques were significantly different.

Modern laboratory evaluation of peptide and amines: a continuing role for radioimmunoassay?

Modern medicine, and specifically clinical diagnosis, relies, among other diagnostic procedures, on the measurements of the biogenic analytes for elucidation and correlation of specific neuroendocrine markers. Tremendous advances have been made in imaging and radioactive uptake procedures to elucidate tumor presence and characterization. However, such advances only partially provide the fundamental degree of tumor activity and clinical confirmational validity.