Prolonged response to 177Lu-DOTATATE therapy of a bone marrow infiltration in a refractory thymic neuro endocrine tumor

Thymic neuro endocrine tumor (tNET) are extremely rare malignancies with poor prognosis, requiring investigation of novel therapeutic approaches. Lu-177-DOTATATE is a successful systemic treatment modality in patients with metastatic gastroenteropancreatic but it role in tNET is not yet well established. Here we report a case of a 39-year-old man with refractory bone marrow infiltration of a tNET, treated by 4 cycles of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with Lu-177 DOTATATE. Since the first cycle, clinical symptoms were substantially decreased, without any severe subacute haematological toxicity. Three months after the end of PRRT, both Ga-68-DOTATOC and F-18-FDG PET confirmed a partial response, already suggested by Lu-177-DOTATATE treatment scan with a significant decrease of the bone marrow uptake between the first and fourth cycle. This report highlights that PRRT could be an effective therapeutic option for advanced bone metastatic disease tNET, with the significant benefit of alleviation of bone pain and radiologic response, without severe or irreversible haematotoxicity.