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  • Therapie der Zukunft: we fight your cancer

Ga-68 demonstrates superiority to F-18 in digital PSMA-PET/CT scans for staging prostate cancer

Gallium-68 has demonstrated superiority to Fluorine-18 in digital PSMA-PET/CT scans for staging prostate cancer

Fluorine-18 is a commonly used isotope utilized for conducting PSMA-PET/CT to stage prostate cancer, due to its longer half-life and higher production capacity as compared to Gallium-68. The latest study, however, has demonstrated superiority of Ga-68, because of the focal unspecific uptake of F-18 in the bones of ribs and pelvis. Without additional follow-up exams or any morphological correlates, this may be misinterpreted as bone metastasis. While nonspecific uptake in other tissues and physiologic uptake in the ganglia can be filtered out, unspecific bone uptake tends to lead to false interpretation and misdiagnosis. Bone metastases do occur in 10% of patients with the newly diagnosed prostate cancer, and 80-90% of patients in the advanced stage. Over-staging the patient may result in inadequate therapy decisions, especially in case of early biochemical recurrence. Read more.