Dr. Hashmi on Imaging Modalities in Prostate Cancer

Mehmood Hashmi, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, discusses imaging modalities in prostate cancer.

Traditionally, physicians use CT scans or bone scans in patients with prostate cancer. Although they help physicians identify a patient’s disease, their sensitivity is not that high. It hovers around 60% to 65%, says Mehmood. Therefore, more advanced modalities are needed to identify the patients who need more aggressive treatment upfront and those who can potentially avoid unnecessary treatment.

Although carbon-11 (C-11) PET scan is a modality that is included in the NCCN guidelines and has approximately 80% sensitivity, it is not readily available at all centers. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-PET scans is another approach that is becoming more common in practice. PSMA scans show higher sensitivity and higher positive predictive values, explains Mehmood.

All of these modalities will help physicians identify the patients who can be treated aggressively in the beginning, as well as those who can avoid unnecessary aggressive surgeries and radiotherapy toxicities, states Mehmood.