PET identifies which prostate cancer patients can benefit from salvage radiation

Posted by PET-CT Las Colinas on January 5th, 2018

A new study has been revealed which establishes the fact that prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) - PET scans can recognize those prostate cancer patients who have had a radical prostatectomy (a surgical approach that removes a part ofthe whole prostate gland altogether), to have high chances to profit from salvage radiation therapy (SRT).The scans have proven to be more helpful and revealing for these prostate cancer patients.

Early treatments can make all the difference for prostate cancer patients withgrowing levels of PSA (a cancer indicator). Even after a radical prostatectomy, the patient may still show evidenceofrelapse ofprostatecancer.PET scans can help in identifying those prostate cancer patients that are most likely to gain from salvage radiation treatment (SRT).

For prostate cancer patients, PSMA is considered as an imaging biomarker. It can be utilizedin PET scanning as a radiotracerto spot the specific a prostate tumor areas.

A medical doctor reported having said that this research is fresh, new and something not considered before. The research focuses on the patient responses to the effect of PSMA PET/CT treatment.

For the study to be conducted, patients experienced imaging through a PSMA PET scan. The treatments were prescribed based on the scan results. The study monitored the treatment and examined its effectiveness.

The study involved 146 men. 99 of these men acquired SRT and were monitored for 10.5 months.  72% of these men responded to the treatment. For those men that showed thenegative PSMA-PET result, the response of the treatment was 82.5 percent. Those men that showed positive for lymph nodes, the response rate of the treatment was 53 percent. The results showed that PMSA-PET was found to be of more advantageous to men as compared to other medical practices. 

Those men that receive radical prostatectomy need to get follow-ups so that their prostate-specific antigen levels are measured and monitored. Normally, statistics show that around 20% to 50% of these males will have a relapse.

Presently, salvage radiation treatment is deemed to be the only therapy to be potentially curative for these males. Categorizing the patients according to their PSA levels will be beneficial in determining thosemen likely to profit from SRT.

Studies have revealed that those patients treated with SRT and showed PSA levels less than 0.5 ng/m showed improved results.

In some cases, there is acertain number of men that do not react to the SRT in spite of having low PSA levels. Studies suggest that it could be a sign of the cancer spread in the body.

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PET / CT of Las Colinas was developed with both patients and physicians in mind,and our services have been used for various types of disease; primarily in detecting, staging and monitoring cancer, but also in heart disease and brain disorders.