Imaging and staging of prostate cancer is critical for surgical and treatment planning. Patients with suspected metastatic prostate cancer will be imaged using Gallium-68 labeled PSMA-11 in order to demonstrate its utility. The investigators plan to utilize this data to obtain further approvals of the Ga-68-PSMA-11 compound, so that this agent will become available for clinical imaging in prostate cancer patients. In the pre-prostatectomy population, the primary objective is to determine the sensitivity and specificity for detection on nodal metastasis.
This compound has been shown to be superior to choline based PET agents for the staging of prostate cancer, both Carbon-11 and Fluorine-18 compounds. But this compound was not patented and therefore no company or private entity will make the investment required to bring Ga-68-PSMA-11 to market. In the vacuum of availability, academic groups must take the lead in order to collect the necessary data for future FDA approval.
