News Release

11C-Acetate PET shows promise for early detection of prostate cancer recurrence

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

Reston, VA – The number two cause of cancer death among American men, prostate cancer, has been reported to recur in 21% of patients who have received definitive local therapy. Decisions about how to treat recurrent prostate cancer are based on whether the disease is localized or includes distant metastases; identifying appropriate treatment as early as possible leads to a better prognosis and reduced costs.

Thus far, the presence of a measurable level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or rising PSA has proven the most effective way to detect recurrent prostate cancer. Several imaging techniques have been tested or used, but none have proven particularly reliable. Therefore, researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine tested 11C-acetate PET scans to determine their sensitivity in identifying recurrent disease and to compare the sensitivity of these scans to 18F-FDG PET scans.

The research, published in the April 2003 issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, involved 46 prostate cancer patients who had been treated by prostatectomy or by radiation, and who all had detectable serum PSA. For each patient, both imaging procedures were conducted on the same day, and two experienced independent observers evaluated all scans. 11C-acetate PET scans had higher positive findings overall, and among the patients whose results had been confirmed by CT, bone scintigraphy, biopsy or were deemed highly likely to have tumors, 11C-acetate PET (14 positive results) was more sensitive than 18F-FDG PET (4 positive results).

The accompanying invited commentary by Antonia Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss, MD, and Ludwig G. Strauss, MD, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, points out that there is a lack of histological verification of the results of this study. Nonetheless, "it is likely that that 11C-acetate PET is more sensitive than 18F-FDG PET for the diagnosis of prostate cancer." This research paves the way for future investigation of the utility of 11C-acetate PET in early relapse detection.

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"11C-acetate PET Imaging of Prostate Cancer: Detection of Recurrent Disease at PSA Relapse" was written by Nobuyuki Oyama, MD, PhD, Tom R. Miller, MD, PhD, Farrokh Dehdashti, MD, Barry A. Siegel, MD, Jeff M. Michalski, MD, and Michael J. Welch, PhD, of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, along with Keith C. Fischer, MD, of the Mallinckrodt Institute, Adam S. Kibel, MD, and Gerald L. Andriole, MD, of The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and the Department of Surgery, and Joel Picus, MD, of The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and Department of Internal Medicine, all at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Copies of the article, relevant images and accompanying commentary are available to media upon request to Kimberly A. Bennett. Current and past issues of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at jnm.snmjournals.org. Print copies can be obtained at $15 per copy by contacting the SNM Service Center, Society of Nuclear Medicine, 1850 Samuel Morse Drive, Reston, VA 20190-5315; phone: (703) 326-1186; fax: (703) 708-9015; email: servicecenter@snm.org. A yearly subscription to the journal is $170. A journal subscription is a member benefit of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine is an international scientific and professional organization of more than 14,000 members dedicated to promoting the science, technology, and practical applications of nuclear medicine. The SNM is based in Reston, VA.


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