Nuclear Medicine and Surgery on the Way to Personalized Medicine. Ten Years of Clinical and Translational Oncology and Research

Surgery with a complete tumor removal is the only therapeutic option with a curative approach in a neuroendocrine tumor disease. Recurrent abdominal surgery is associated with inflammation, altered anatomy, and scar tissue and can be challenging [1]. Additionally, tumor lesions can be really small, invisible, or not palpable by the surgeon’s fingers. For that reason, an intraoperative diagnostic tool is necessary because the prior imaging (scintigraphy, PET/CT) has a reduced sensitivity with lower tumor size. Sufficient, preoperative, and intraoperative imaging can provide the surgeon with valuable assistance and also significantly simplify the surgical procedure. Depending on the intraoperative findings, the surgical intervention can be expanded or even significantly reduced.