Trial Information

The Effectiveness of 18F-fluorocholine PET in Detecting, Staging and Following-up Prostate Cancer

Background:

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death for male in Taiwan. Although 18F-FDG PET
has been shown to be an effective tool in diagnosing many malignancies, previous studies
have shown that 18F-FDG is not a suitable PET tracer for detecting prostate cancer. Choline
is one of the components of phosphatidylcholine, an essential element of phospholipids in
the cell membrane. Some malignant cells show their ability to actively incorporate choline
to produce phosphocholine and phosphatidylcholine to facilitate tumor cell duplication. The
efficacy of 18F-fluorocholine (18F-FCH) for localizing primary or metastatic prostate cancer
has been recently reported in limited studies.

Purpose:

This study will be conducted to delineate the effectiveness of 18F-FCH PET in (1)
differentiating benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) from prostate cancer, (2) staging prostate
cancer, (3) following-up patients with prostate cancer after initial curative therapy.

Patients and Methods:

This study will include

1. Group 1: 50 patients with BPH

2. Group 2: 50 patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer and

3. Group 3: 50 patients who have received curative treatment for prostate cancer and are
suspicious of recurrence/metastases because of a persistent increase in their serum
PSA.

18F-FCH whole-body PET will be performed for each patient

Expected Results:

To evaluate the effectiveness of 18F-FCH in the diagnosis, staging and follow-up of
prostate cancer.