Second PSMA PET Scan Finds Hidden Prostate Cancer in 56% of Patients

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Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Prostate cancer can return after surgery or radiation therapy without immediately producing symptoms or a tumor that doctors can see. Instead, the first warning may be a rising PSA level in the blood, a situation known as biochemical recurrence. The increase suggests that prostate cells remain somewhere in the body, but it does not reveal their location. This can make treatment decisions difficult. Doctors may need to determine whether the cancer is confined to the area where it began, has reached nearby lymph nodes, or has spread to distant organs. Each pattern can require a different strategy. PSMA PET imaging is designed to help solve that problem. A radioactive tracer attaches to prostate-specific membrane antigen, a protein often found at high levels on prostate cancer cells. The scan then highlights areas where the tracer accumulates, potentially...