The Effectiveness of 18F-fluorocholine Positron Emission Tomography (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.