Compartmental Model for Transportation of 177Lu-DOTATATE into Critical Organs

Abstract

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are commonly found in the neuroendocrine system and can be recovered by several methods such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiopharmaceuticals. The latter approach is essential for medical treatment since it becomes the best choice for patients who cannot respond to the first two ways, and it can directly destroy the tumors. However, using radiopharmaceuticals with unsuitable doses may harm some organs like the liver and kidneys. Therefore, this research aims to develop a compartmental model for studying the transportation of ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATATE into the critical organs and predict the essential parameters for simulation. The model is formed as the system of ordinary differential equations and can be solved by using numerical methods. The results show that the dynamic of concentration of ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATATE in the selected organs have the same pattern. There is the highest concentration around the first hour after injection, except for liver. Then it started to drop down to zero due to consumption and elimination from the organs. In the future, the model can be used to determine the therapeutic strategy for the improvement of NETs therapy.