One year after the start of operation of PET / MRI equipment, the ability of this technique, a pioneer in our country, in the tracking of metastatic lesions is confirmed. This is demonstrated by the results presented during the VIII National Congrés de Radiòlegs de Catalunya by the CETIR-ASCIRES biomedical group, based on their experience with this team, which integrates in a single hybrid technology the two most powerful diagnostic tools at present to detect early extension of the tumor: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and High Field Magnetic Resonance.
The good results are shown in the identification and localization of metastatic lesions in patients in whom high-risk prostate cancer was studied, and in subjects who had already undergone surgery (prostatectomy) or underwent radiotherapy and in whom there was a suspicion of relapse at increased blood levels of the tumor marker PSA (Prostatic Specific Antigen).
In more than 70 percent of the 50 patients included in the study, and who were at high risk of recurrence of prostate cancer, PET-MRI detected and located between 1 and 3 metastatic lesions, ensuring early treatment.
Greater diagnostic safety
When a patient with high levels of PSA undergoes a PET / MRI study, in a single session, it can be confirmed or ruled out if the cancer has spread, identify exactly where it is located and plan an optimal personalized treatment for each case. “This positions the PET / MRI as the current technology capable of providing greater diagnostic safety and more guarantee of success in the treatment of cancer,” says Dr. Garcia Garzón, nuclear medicine responsible for this study.
The 18F-Hill PET / MRI study, performed with this specific tracer of prostate cancer that acts as a marker of tumor cells, demonstrates that PET / MRI is highly effective to study recently diagnosed patients, by biopsy, of a high-risk prostate cancer.
In a high percentage of cases, it detects the few metastatic tumor lesions and locates them with extreme precision. This has allowed to offer a treatment directed exclusively towards those specific lesions, instead of planning a 'blind' therapy or proceeding to an unnecessary prostate surgery.
Between 20 and 50 percent of patients treated for prostate cancer relapse in less than 5 years and, in a significant majority, the disease is located outside the prostate region.