Prostate cancer: first diagnosis with PET-MRI and new tracer in Italy at the AOU Marche University Hospital.

The examination is performed on an outpatient basis, with further sessions scheduled every 15 days.

The first PET/MRI scan in Italy using a new tracer specifically for prostate cancer was successfully performed in the Department of Radiology at the Marche Hospital. The application, described as "innovative and in some ways revolutionary," received approval last week with the initial diagnostic tests performed on three patients with prostate cancer using the integrated PET/MRI system (a digital PET scanner integrated with a 3Tesla MRI scanner). The results are described as "extraordinary," allowing for accurate and earlier diagnoses compared to traditional methods used to date.

The achievement, a statement explains, was made possible by the collaboration between the Radiology Clinic, led by Andrea Giovagnoni, director of the Department of Radiological Sciences at the University Hospital of Marche, and the Nuclear Medicine Unit, headed by Fabio Fringuelli. The scientific advantage, experts explain, is linked to the use of the device in conjunction with a new, highly specific radiopharmaceutical. This is 18F-piflufolastat, which can identify only prostate lesions as they express the specific cellular antigen (PSMA). The investigations were conducted with PET/MRI on three patients, two with elevated specific biochemical markers (PSA) and a third with suspected biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.

"To our knowledge," Giovagnoni and Fringuelli explain, "this is the first time in Italy that PET/MRI has been used, instead of PET/CT, with a specific tracer for prostate cancer. Global experience with this application is still limited as it represents an absolutely novel feature. The value of PET/MRI, a cutting-edge device in clinical use only at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan that uses another, less specific tracer, they point out, appears to be highly effective as it is capable of acquiring MRI and PET images 'fused' directly together. The further, significant advantage during a single examination is that it does not have to move the patient to multiple machines, allowing us to couple the diagnostic potential of multiparametric high-field MRI of the prostate with a specific metabolic-receptor investigation of PET. Patients are selected after a careful shared clinical analysis, thanks to constant dialogue with the Urology Department of AOUM, headed by Professor Andrea Benedetto Galosi, although we will always be ready to subject cases arriving from all over the world to the special diagnostic test." territory".

Beyond its scientific value, the statement continues, the insight from the professionals at the AOU delle Marche has a strong social dimension. The test, well tolerated by patients, is performed on an outpatient basis in a timeframe comparable to a traditional examination. In short, it is an immediately applicable test for potential cases currently being screened on the waiting list. In addition to the three patients who already underwent PET/MRI last week, further sessions are already scheduled, which, for now, will be performed every two weeks. It should also be emphasized that the high sensitivity and specificity of this receptor-based tracer drug, combined with the use of PET/MRI, can provide diagnostic information on the local presence of prostate cancer and any clusters of cells (metastases) that have detached and grown in different parts of the body.

"This new application," emphasizes Armando Marco Gozzini, AOUM General Manager, "reminds us every day of the value of care, commitment, and attention to the patients who guide our professionals without exception: they are the ones who make the company I have the honor of representing great." Fringuelli and Giovagnoni, who conducted the survey, also expressed their satisfaction. "This new diagnostic approach," they emphasize, "already stands out as an extraordinary tool for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer and for staging in patients who have undergone surgery and are undergoing follow-up with suspected 'biological' recurrence. Further diagnostic sessions on selected patients have already been scheduled for the coming weeks, and work is underway on a program to introduce this innovative diagnostic application into a clinical routine that includes the greatest possible number of patients at the AOU delle Marche."