CCO to provide Ga-Octreotate to Ontario patients free of charge in Sherbrooke

A message from Helena Senta:
“At this time, CCO is proceeding with PET scan approval for the PET scans out of province. The procedure is identical to that of the standard PET request through PET Scan Network Ontario. The physician should send the PET scan demand to CCO. CCO will proceed with the approval. Upon approval, CCO will inform us and the physician that approval has been granted and the physician will then fax the official referral to us.”

PET Access Program
The Ontario PET Access Program considers, on a case-by-case basis, requests from physicians for the provision of PET scans for patients who may benefit, but who do not meet the eligibility criteria to receive PET scans under one of these other categories: insured services , the PET Registry or  clinical trials .

Referring physicians need to confirm in the application that other diagnostic tests do not provide the clinical information needed, and indicate how a PET scan may influence the clinical management of the patient.

The study:
Phase II Study to Measure the Safety of 68Ga-DOTA-TATE PET/CT in the Diagnosis of Tumors Expressing Somatostatin Receptors

Purpose:
Phase-II, prospective, open label, no control group to assess the safety of 68Ga-DOTA-TATE injection in patients with suspected or diagnosed with tumors expressing somatostatin receptors. Each included patient will receive an administered dose of 50 mcg or less of the peptide (DOTA-TATE) and a range of activity between 100 – 200 MBq of 68Ga-DOTA-TATE.

The efficacy of 68Ga-DOTA-TATE in assessing this kind of tumors has been proved by numerous studies.

 

Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:
• Patients with suspected or proven tumors expressing Somatostatin receptors
• Informed consent by patient (or parents if patient is less than 18 years of age)
Exclusion Criteria:
• Pregnancy (confirmed). In the case of a diagnostic procedure in a patient who is or may be pregnant, a clinical decision is necessary considering the benefits against the possible harm of carrying out any procedure.
• Patient refusal to participate.
• Impossibility to tolerate a decubitus position for 25 minutes
• Prior allergic reaction to DOTA-TATE or somatostatin analogs

Location:
Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, J1H 5N4

Contacts:
Principal Investigator: Eric Turcotte, MD
Helena Senta, PhD 819-346-1110 ext 13660 helena.senta@usherbrooke.ca
Éric Lavallée, TIM 819-346-1110 ext 12887 eric.lavallee2@usherbrooke.ca