About 30 percent of patients who undergo surgical resection for prostate cancer will suffer a recurrence, but it’s difficult to identify the sites of recurrence. Researchers at Mayo Clinic have found a way to do it using C-11 choline PET and multiparametric MR imaging.

Mayo’s C-11 choline PET agent received FDA approval in September 2012 for men who have had prostate cancer and whose blood prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels are still increasing. The PET scans can be used to help the physicians identify the sites in the body that need a follow-up biopsy.

Historically, it’s difficult to determine where the cancer has recurred. Traditional imaging tests such as conventional bone and CT scans aren’t sensitive enough to spot sites of recurrence, especially when the PSA value is lower than 10.
Combined C-11 choline PET imaging and multiparametric MR can be used to find anatomically diverse patterns of recurrence. It helps physicians accurately identify sites of recurrence at an average PSA of two.

That type of staging also allows physicians to determine the sites of recurrent disease that can potentially be treated with either surgery or radiation.

The researchers were also able to view the patterns of recurrence. They found that almost two-thirds of the men in the study had recurrence in their pelvis, which can potentially be treated with radiation therapy.

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