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PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL NOON, JUNE 23, 2003
Contact: Kimberly A. Bennett
[email protected]
Office: 202-955-1253
Cell: 202-276-6848
FDHT PET Presents Additional Possibility for Tumor
Localization in Prostate Cancer Patients
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of
cancer deaths among American men. In hopes of changing this statistic, researchers are exploring a
variety of PET imaging techniques to provide quicker and more accurate diagnoses. “As with any cancer,
identifying metastases as early as possible is vital to structuring an appropriate treatment regimen and to
the long-term survival of the patient,” declared Dr. Steven Larson, who is part of a team that used FDHT
PET to investigate the presence of functioning androgen receptors in patients with metastatic prostate
cancer.
The study included seven castrate patients whose prostate cancer and the presence of lesions had been
proven by prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, bone scan, or CT scan. The patients were evaluated using
PET scans with the androgen receptor binding agent [18F] fluoro-dihydro-testosterone (FDHT) and the
glycolysis imaging agent [18F] 2-Fluro-D-glucose (FDG), as well as the conventional imaging methods
(CIM) noted above. The results of all of the techniques (CIM, FDHT PET and FDG PET) were then
compared to each other.
Conventional methods detected 59 lesions among the seven patients, indicating areas where the cancer
may have spread. FDG PET detected 58 of these abnormalities, while FDHT PET detected 46. FDHT was
rapidly absorbed in the majority of metastatic lesions, indicating the presence of functioning androgen
receptors in patients with advanced prostate cancer and demonstrating the potential of FDHT to trace the
evolving role of androgen receptors in progressive metastatic prostate cancer. Of note is the fact that, in
two of the patients who returned for new scans after they had begun testosterone therapy, FDHT uptake
was markedly reduced.
The study, which was presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s 50th Annual Meeting, was
conducted by Larson and colleagues in the Departments of Radiology and Medicine at the Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the
Sloan Kettering Institution in New York, and the Department of Radiology at the Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine is holding its 50th Annual Meeting June 21-25 at the Ernest N. Morial
Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition to educational sessions and the presentation of
scientific papers, the meeting will focus on current issues in nuclear medicine, including bioethics,
terrorism using radioactive materials, and controversial topics in the future of PET. More than 3,600
specialists in the field of nuclear medicine are expected to attend.
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