Video: Prostate-Specific PET Scans

To date there has been no reliable way to quantify or to characterize prostate cancer bone metastases. Medical oncologist Michael Morris of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Genitourinary Oncology Service describes techniques to image prostate cancer metastases using novel PET imaging technology. The approaches involve the use of prostate-specific PET scans targeting the androgen receptor or prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as a target. Doctors can use the method to localize metastases and determine how well treatments are targeting disease sites. They are the first techniques developed to visualize and characterize prostate cancer in a patient's body in a way that cannot be accomplished using standard imaging modalities. Dr. Morris also notes that it is the first step toward creating the molecular profile of a patient's prostate cancer in a noninvasive manner.