Thymic NEN - Ronny Allan - Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer

Tag: Thymic NEN

The thymus is an organ that is part of the lymphatic system, in which T lymphocytes grow and multiply. The thymus is in the chest behind the breastbone.

It’s a rare site for a Neuroendocrine Neoplasm (NEN). Grouped within Thoracic NENs. Can be poorly differentiated (Neuroendocrine Carcinoma) or well differentiated (Neuroendocrine Tumour).

Tumours of the thymus are uncommon and are generally regarded as being indolent. Whilst this is often true of thymomas; thymic adenocarcinoma and thymic neuroendocrine cancer can be aggressive and have a poor prognosis. Understanding the biology of these tumours is important for prognosis and management. The pathological features of these tumours are examined in detail. The treatment options available including curative surgery, debulking surgery, chemotherapy, somatostatin analogues and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy are discussed. The optimal chemotherapy regimens are still unclear, although promising results have been obtained with platinum-based chemotherapy. The role for adjuvant therapy in both thymic carcinoma and thymoma is unclear except, in patients with stage I thymomas. There is a high expression of somatostatin receptors in thymic tumours and anti-tumour benefit has been reported in patients treated with somatostatin analogues. A new development is the role of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy. This has become an established therapy in management of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours and its use has been recently described in case reports in both thymoma and thymic carcinoma.

25Feb 2020 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

Clinical Trial: Lu-177 DOTATOC (PRRT) in adult subjects with Somatostatin receptor (SSTR) positive Pulmonary, Pheochromocytoma, Paraganglioma, Unknown primary, and Thymic Neuroendocrine Tumors

Clinical Trials and Research

Excellent news for those who don't have Gastroenteropancreatic NETs (GEP-NETs). A trial of PRRT is being set-up for the less common types of NET including those with an unknown primary. Using the DOTATOC radionuclide rather than the Lutathera model of using DOTATATE, this trial will cater for Pulmonary, Pheochromoctyoma, Paraganlioma, Unknown Primary and Thymic Neuroendocrine Tumours.Excel Diagnostics and Nuclear Oncology Center (EDNOC) announced today that its physician sponsored Investigational New Drug (IND) application to evaluate safety and efficacy of Lu-177 DOTATOC in adult subjects with Somatostatin receptor (SSTR) expressing Pulmonary, Pheochromocytoma, Paraganglioma, Unknown primary, and Thymic Neuroendocrine Tumors (PUT-NET), has received approval to proceed by USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and also charge authorization has been granted (IND#143631, NCT04276597). This IND is anticipated to start enrolling patients by early…

15Jun 2016 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer – it can be ‘smoke and mirrors’

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer

In a previous life, I used the term 'smoke and mirrors' quite a bit. I was used to dealing with many different types of people, some who wanted something, some who wanted to buy or sell something. Most of the time it was overt but the devil was usually in the detail. Sometimes there was an element of 'covertness' or a 'hidden agenda'. It was always tricky working out the details of the hidden agenda and sometimes it was only known when it was too late. Some of you will already be seeing where I'm going with this line of thinking - if so, you worked out my hidden agenda! 'Smoke and Mirrors' is basically a term connected to the art of deception, a con trick, a way in through confusion and…