Study Finds PET Imaging Detects Fast-Growing Primary Prostate Cancer

PET imaging is enabling the detection of fast-growing primary prostate cancer, while distinguishing it from benign prostate lesions, according to research published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The study consisted of 13 patients with primary prostate cancer who were imaged with F-18 DCFBC PET, while 12 of those patients also were imaged with pelvic prostate MR imaging.

While results showed that MR was more sensitive than PET imaging for detection of primary prostate cancer in a per-segment and per-dominant lesion analysis, PET was more specific than MR imaging by per-segment analysis. PET was also highly specific for the detection of high-grade lesions greater than or equal to 1.1 mL in size.

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer among men in the United States aside from skin cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. — Michael Cipriano