PSMA-PET

In this situation, the treating healthcare professional and the patient must decide on further treatment options. This process can be difficult, as the treatment options range from further surgery to radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Precise knowledge of the spread of the disease is therefore a prerequisite for optimal treatment planning.

New cancer diagnostic procedure
This is precisely where PET/CT can help with a new procedure that has already been very well tested in Europe.

In this procedure, a labelled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is used as a detection substance - in contrast to the commonly used, weakly radioactively labelled glucose. In addition to the laboratory test, this can mark the cells that are responsible for the increase in the tumour marker PSA and which then "light up" in the PET scan. In contrast to the alternative MRI examination, the entire body is examined. As the radioactive marker used (F18- PSMA) has a very short half-life of 68 minutes, the examination is also particularly gentle.

The short half-life and the complicated production of the marker mean that testing is only possible in specialised centres. As the authorisation procedure is long and complicated, this will not change any time soon.