Positron emission tomography (PET) allows a monitoring and recording of the spatial and temporal distribution of molecular/cellular processes for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The aim of this review is to describe the current applications and to explore the role of PET in prostate cancer management, mainly in the radiation therapy (RT) scenario. The state-of-the art of PET for prostate cancer will be presented together with the impact of new specific PET tracers and technological developments aiming at obtaining better imaging quality, increased tumor detectability and more accurate volume delineation. An increased number of studies have been focusing on PET quantification methods as predictive biomarkers capable of guiding individualized treatment and improving patient outcome; the sophisticated advanced intensity modulated and imaged guided radiation therapy techniques (IMRT/IGRT) are capable of boosting more radioresistant tumor (sub)volumes. The use of advanced feature analyses of PET images is an approach that holds great promise with regard to several oncological diseases, but needs further validation in managing prostate diseases.
Physica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB). 2016 Apr 11 [Epub ahead of print]
G M Cattaneo, V Bettinardi, P Mapelli, M Picchio
Medical Physics Unit, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy. Electronic address: ., Nuclear Medicine Unit, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, Milan, Italy., Nuclear Medicine Unit, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, Milan, Italy., Nuclear Medicine Unit, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, Milan, Italy.