PURPOSE: In-pentetreotide on geographic access to radiotracers for patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). METHODS: F-fluorodeoxyglucose were used as a proxy for PET/CT access. Distances traveled were compared across radiotracers, urbanicity, and time periods. RESULTS: F-fluorodeoxyglucose over Octreoscan was 43.7 miles. After copper was introduced (2021-2023), the metropolitan or micropolitan--small or rural difference closed and was mostly indistinguishable from the effect of the distribution of PET capabilities. CONCLUSIONS: Octreoscan utilization expectedly declined with the introduction of PET-based radiotracers, likely due to their clinical superiority, with greater penetration of copper in small or rural areas. Copper reduced distance traveled by patients with NETs given its comparable diagnostic accuracy and greater geographical availability compared with gallium.
Yuan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.