Comparing Two Diagnostic Imaging Techniques for the Evaluation of Prostate Cancer Metastases in the Bone
This pilot study evaluates the diagnostic performance of [F-18] fluciclovine positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in identifying prostate cancer that has spread (metastatic) to the bone, compared to [F-18] sodium fluoride (NaF) PET/CT. Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy among men throughout the world and 90% of patients who die of it have bone metastases. Early detection or exclusion of bone metastasis is of high clinical importance in the management of patients with high risk prostate cancer. [F-18] NaF PET/CT is a highly sensitive technique for detecting bone metastases in cancer patients. [F-18] fluciclovine PET/CT is another diagnostic technique that has been shown to have good sensitivity and speciifty for detecting prostatic and extraprostatic disease, but it's efficacy in detecting metastatic disease in the bone has not been well evaluated. This study uses [F-18] NaF PET/CT as the gold standard to evaluate the diagnostic performance of [F-18] fluciclovine PET/CT in identifying bone involvement in prostate cancer patients.