Principal Investigator: Dr. François Bénard
BC Cancer
600 W 10th Ave., Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4E6
PET Reception/Booking: 604.707.5951 (toll-free 1.800.663.3333, ext. 5951)
Fax Referrals to: 604.877.6245
Below are the patient referral form and the main study consent form for adult patients. Patients should not sign the consent form prior to arrival for their PET/CT scan. The consent forms are available for review purposes only.
Please note that there is currently a waitlist for this study that can be up to 7 months long.
Most patients with prostate cancer will be successfully treated with surgery or radiation therapy, a small proportion of patients will develop recurrence of disease at some time in their life. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is measured from a blood test and used to monitor the status of the cancer. When there is an unexpected and persistent rise in the PSA, this raises concern that the cancer may have returned. Imaging studies like magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography or bone scans are commonly performed for this purpose but may not always be able to detect cancer cells, especially when it is in the early stages.
This study is investigating the usefulness of an alternative test with a positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (PET/CT) scan using a radioactive tracer called 18F-DCFPyL. 18F-DCFPyL is an agent that binds to a special protein in the human body called prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA). Studies have shown that PSMA is found in many prostate cancer cells, especially when the cancer comes back after treatment.
18F-DCFPyL will be made at the BC Cancer - Vancouver. It is considered investigational but has been used safely in preliminary human research studies without serious undesirable effects.
The purpose of this study is to determine how accurate a 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT scan is in detecting prostate cancer recurrence.
This is a prospective single cohort study to evaluate the diagnostic utility of 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT in detecting sites of recurrent prostate cancer, in patients who have negative or equivocal findings on conventional imaging.
Up to 1574 adult patients will be invited to take part in this study. The study involves one PET/CT exam using 18F-DCFPyL. All patient referrals that meet the indications for performing this test should be faxed to the Functional Imaging Department at BC Cancer – Vancouver Centre.
- Known PC with a BR after initial curative therapy with radical prostatectomy, with a documented history of failure of PSA to fall to undetectable levels (PSA persistence) or undetectable PSA after radical prostatectomy with a subsequent detectable PSA that increased on 2 or more determinations (PSA recurrence). The patient may have received treatment following documentation of PSA persistence or PSA recurrence. The most recent PSA measurement must be greater than 0.4 ng/mL.
- Participants with findings on other examinations (such as plain x-ray, CT, MRI or bone scintigraphy and others) that are suspicious for metastatic disease but not conclusively diagnostic of metastatic disease.
- Known PC with BR after initial curative therapy with radiation therapy (including brachytherapy), with a PSA level >2 ng/mL above the nadir after radiation therapy.
- Castration resistant PC with a minimum PSA of 2.0 ng/mL with 2 consecutive rises above the nadir and castrate levels of testosterone (<1.7 nmol/L). Treatment does not need to be discontinued before the 18F-DCFPyL scan.
- ECOG performance status of 2 or less.
