Article by NCI Prostate Biomarker Center Group at Emory Receives Diverse Coverage
October 2020
An article authored by members of Emory University's NCI-funded Prostate Biomarker Center Investigator Group reports that fluorine (18F) fluciclovine positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (PET/CT) detects metastases better than conventional imaging in high-risk prostate cancer. The study was published in the October edition of the Journal of Urology, and its findings have been covered in such news sources as AUA Daily Scope and Urology Times.
The investigators consisted of first author Mehrdad Alemozaffar, MD, former Emory Urology surgeon-scientist; senior author David M. Schuster, MD, Director of the Emory Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging; Martin Sanda, MD, Chair of Emory Urology; and other researchers affiliated with Emory University Winship Cancer Institute.
In this clinical trial, 57 patients with high-risk prostate cancer were staged by conventional imaging, including 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate bone scanning and CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They then underwent 18F-fluciclovine (Axumin) PET/CT, followed by robotic radical prostatectomy and extended pelvic lymph node dissection.
The results led the investigators to conclude that use of 18F-fluciclovine PET/CT may more accurately stage prostate cancer, helping clinicians better plan surgery and other cancer treatment.
