(Press-News.org) Reston, VA--For patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), molecular imaging can improve staging and clinical management of the disease, according to research published in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. In a retrospective study of PDAC patients, the addition of PET/CT imaging with 68Ga-FAPI led to restaging of disease in more than half of the patients, most notably in those with local recurrence.
PDAC is a highly lethal cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 10 percent. Optimal imaging of PDAC is crucial for accurate initial TNM (tumor, node, metastases) staging and selection of the primary treatment. Follow-up imaging is also important to accurately detect local recurrence or metastatic spread as early and as completely as possible.
"Currently, contrast-enhanced CT is the gold standard when it comes to TNM staging, and PET imaging isn't typically part of the clinical routine" stated Manuel Röhrich, MD, nuclear medicine physician at Heidelberg University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. "However, we know that PDAC is composed of certain fibroblasts that express fibroblast activation protein, which can be imaged with the novel PET radiotracer 68Ga-FAPI. Given this characteristic, we sought to explore the utility of 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT to image FDAC patients."
The study included 19 FDAC patients who received contrast-enhanced CT imaging followed by 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT. Results from the 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT scans were then compared with TNM staging based on contrast-enhanced CT. Changes in oncological management were recorded.
68Ga-FAPI PET/CT-based TNM staging differed from contrast-enhanced CT imaging in 10 out of 19 patients, which resulted in changes in TNM staging. Of the 12 patients with recurrent disease, eight were upstaged, one was downstaged and three remained the same. In the seven patients newly diagnosed with PDAC, one was upstaged, while the staging remained the same for six of the patients.
"This analysis suggests that 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT is a promising new imaging modality in staging of PDAC that may help to detect new or clarify inconclusive results obtained by standard CT imaging," said Röhrich. He added, "Improvement in survival can only be achieved by effective treatment approaches customized to the individual patient's disease status. Thus, hybrid imaging using FAPI tracer may open up new applications in staging and restaging of PDAC."
INFORMATION:
The authors of "Impact of 68Ga-FAPI-PET/CT imaging on the therapeutic management of primary and recurrent pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas" include Manuel Röhrich, Fabian Staudinger, Dawn, P. Liew, Clemens Kratochwil and Hendrik Rathke, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany; Patrick Naumann, Jakob Liermann, Klaus Herfarth and Stefan A. Koerber, Department of Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, National Center for Tumor diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany, and Heidelberg Institute of Radiation Oncology (HIRO), Heidelberg, Germany; Frederik L. Giesel, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, and German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Heidelberg, Germany; Peter L. Choyke, Molecular Imaging Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Annika Wefers, Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuropathology, German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; Dirk Jäger, Department of Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine Virgin Islands, National Center for Tumor Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; Jürgen Debus, Department of Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, National Center for Tumor diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany, and Heidelberg Institute of Radiation Oncology (HIRO), Heidelberg, Germany, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Heidelberg, Germany, Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT), Department of Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; Uwe Haberkorn, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, and German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Heidelberg, Germany, Clinical Cooperation Unit, Department of Nuclear Medicine, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany, and Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg, Member of the German Center for Lung Research DZL, Heidelberg, Germany; and Matthias Lang, Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Department of Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, Member of the German Center for Lung Research DZL, Heidelberg, Germany.
This work was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, grant number 13N 13341. Uwe Haberkorn, Clemens Kratochwil and Frederik Giesel have filed a patent application for quinoline-based FAP-targeting agents for imaging and therapy in nuclear medicine. This retrospective study was approved by the local institutional review board (study number S115/2020).
Visit JNM's new website for the latest research, and follow our new Twitter and Facebook pages @JournalofNucMed.
Please visit the SNMMI Media Center for more information about molecular imaging and precision imaging. To schedule an interview with the researchers, please contact Rebecca Maxey at (703) 652-6772 or rmaxey@snmmi.org
About JNM and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) is the world's leading nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and theranostics journal, accessed more than 11 million times each year by practitioners around the globe, providing them with the information they need to advance this rapidly expanding field. Current and past issues of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at http://jnm.snmjournals.org.
JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging--precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.snmmi.org.
Dancing with music can halt most debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease
First-of-its-kind York U study shows participating in weekly dance training improves daily living and motor function for those with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's
TORONTO, July 7, 2021 - A new study published in Brain Sciences today, shows patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease (PD) can slow the progress of the disease by participating in dance training with music for one-and-a-quarter hours per week. Over the course of three years, this activity was found to reduce daily motor issues such as those related to balance and speech, ...
When a head of state or government official travels to another country to meet with his/her counterpart, the high-level visit often entails a range of public diplomacy activities, which aim to increase public support in the host country. These activities often include events such as hosting a joint press conference, attending a reception or dinner, visiting a historic site, or attending a social or sports event. A new study finds that public diplomacy accompanying a high-level visit by a national leader increases public approval in the host country. The findings are published in the American Political ...
The Arctic is warming at approximately twice the global rate. A new study led by researchers from McGill University finds that cold-adapted Arctic species, like the thick-billed murre, are especially vulnerable to heat stress caused by climate change.
"We discovered that murres have the lowest cooling efficiency ever reported in birds, which means they have an extremely poor ability to dissipate or lose heat," says lead author Emily Choy, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Natural Resource Sciences Department at McGill University.
Following reports of the seabirds dying in their nests on sunny days, the researchers trekked the cliffs ...
Data from nine cities in Mexico confirms that identifying dengue fever “hot spots” can provide a predictive map for future outbreaks of Zika and chikungunya. All three of these viral diseases are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Lancet Planetary Health published the research, led by Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, associate professor in Emory University’s Department of Environmental Sciences. The study provides a risk-stratification method to more effectively guide the control of diseases spread by Aedes aegypti. “Our results can help public health officials to do targeted, proactive interventions ...
Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed cancer and a leading cause of death by cancer in Australian men.
Early detection is key to successful treatment but men often dodge the doctor, avoiding diagnosis tests until it's too late.
Now an artificial intelligence (AI) program developed at RMIT University could catch the disease earlier, allowing for incidental detection through routine computed tomography (CT) scans.
The tech, developed in collaboration with clinicians at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, works by analysing CT scans for tell-tale signs of prostate ...
Phosphinoylazidation of alkenes is a direct method to build nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing compounds from feedstock chemicals. Notwithstanding the advances in other phosphinyl radical related difunctionalization of alkenes, catalytic phosphinoylazidation of alkenes has not yet been reported. Thus, efficient access to organic nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, and making the azido group transfer more feasible to further render this step more competitive remain challenging.
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Hongli Bao from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported the first iron-catalyzed phosphinoylazidation of alkenes under ...
The growing rate of ice melt in the Arctic due to rising global temperatures has opened up the Northwest Passage (NWP) to more ship traffic, increasing the potential risk of an oil spill and other environmental disasters. A new study published in the journal Risk Analysis suggests that an oil spill in the Canadian Arctic could be devastating--especially for vulnerable indigenous communities.
"Infrastructure along the NWP in Canada's Arctic is almost non-existent. This presents major challenges to any response efforts in the case of a natural disaster," says Mawuli Afenyo, lead author, University of Manitoba researcher, and expert on the risks of Arctic shipping.
Afenyo and his colleagues have developed a new ...
(Boston)--High-risk neuroblastoma is an aggressive childhood cancer with poor treatment outcomes. Despite intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, less than 50 percent of these children survive for five years. While the genetics of human neuroblastoma have been extensively studied, actionable therapeutics are limited.
Now researchers in the Feng lab at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), in collaboration with scientists in the Simon lab at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), have not only discovered why this cancer is so aggressive but also reveal a promising therapeutic approach to treat these patients. These findings appear online in the journal Cancer Research, a journal ...
An international research team has found that despite being the world's leading cause of pain, disability and healthcare expenditure, the prevention and management of musculoskeletal health, including conditions such as low back pain, fractures, arthritis and osteoporosis, is globally under-prioritised and have devised an action plan to address this gap.
Project lead, Professor Andrew Briggs from Curtin University said more than 1.5 billion people lived with a musculoskeletal condition in 2019, which was 84 per cent more than in 1990, and despite many 'calls to action' and an ever-increasing ageing population, health systems continue to ...
Screens may be larger on smartphones now, but nearly every other component is designed to be thinner, flatter and tinier than ever before. The engineering requires a shift from shapely, and bulky lenses to the development of miniaturized, two-dimensional metalenses. They might look better, but do they work better?
A team of Japan-based researchers says yes, thanks to a solution they published on July 7th in Applied Physics Express, a journal of the Japan Society of Applied Physics.
The researchers previously developed a low-reflection metasurface -- an ultra-thin interface that can manipulate electromagnetic ...