title: 99mTc-bombesin detects prostate cancer and invasion of pelvic lymph nodes.
abstract: Biopsy is the standard method for the diagnosis of prostate cancer; however, it is inadequate for the assessment of lymph node invasion. Radionuclide imaging might be useful for both diagnosis and N staging, but it requires high uptake of radiotracers in order to overcome difficulties arising from the anatomy of the region. The aim of this study was to assess whether or not technetium-99m labelled bombesin (99mTc-BN) scan is able to detect prostate cancer and invasion of pelvic lymph nodes. Ten patients were studied with 99mTc-BN, transrectal ultrasonography, biopsy, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. All the patients with cancer were operated on. Planar dynamic scintigraphy and single-photon emission tomography (SPET) were performed after administration of 185 MBq 99mTc-BN. Two patients showed benign adenoma and eight showed cancer at biopsy. The average Gleason's score was 7.5+/-1.3. 99mTc-BN dynamic planar scan showed hot spots in the prostatic fossa in two of the eight patients with cancer, both of whom had a prostate-specific antigen level higher than 20 ng/ml. In these patients, high uptake inside the prostatic fossa was detected as early as 1 min after injection, before the arrival of radioactivity in the bladder. True positive SPET scans were obtained in all eight patients with cancer. Invasion of the obturator nodes was detected by SPET in three patients, and in all three was confirmed at surgery. Our preliminary data encourage further studies on the prostate with 99mTc-BN. If the high sensitivity of 99mTc-BN SPET is confirmed, this method may play an important role in diagnosing and staging prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Radiologiche, Sezione di Medicina Nucleare, Università La Sapienza, Policlinico Umberto I, Rome, Italy. francesco.scopinaro@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scopinaro
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Vincentis
authors.forename: Alexandra D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Varvarigou
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Laurenti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Iori
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Remediani
authors.forename: Stella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiarini
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stella
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001839:Bombesin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D010386:Pelvic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary*; D010388:Pelvis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
chemical_list: D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C476494:technetium Tc 99m bombesin, Leu(13)-; D001839:Bombesin