BY EU STUDIO

Updated Monday, June 20, 2022-15:51

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on Twitter

  • send by email

One in three patients with a prostate tumor will experience a relapse of the disease after surgery or radiotherapy.

This is due to the characteristics of the disease itself, as well as the limitations of some currently used imaging techniques.

To address this pathology , it

is necessary to incorporate new

imaging techniques that are more effective in staging the disease and directing therapy, such as positron emission tomography and

PET/PSMA

computed tomography .

These procedures are tools of great precision and sensitivity that

allow personalized treatments in these patients and show a very important prognostic value in the evolution of the disease.

These are the main conclusions reflected in the

report "Precision imaging in the management of prostate cancer: PET/CT PSMA. Analysis of needs and opportunities in Spain"

, an initiative of the Spanish Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SEMNIM), supported by OncoRetos and for which Janssen collaborated.

More precise methods

Joan Castell

, former head of the Nuclear Medicine Service at Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron and coordinator of the report, comments that "today PSMA PET/CT is the most sensitive method for evaluating the presence of extra-prostatic extension of cancer, especially at low PSA levels, when it multiplies up to 5 times the detection of recurrence and the number of locations. It should be indicated together with pelvic MRI to properly characterize patients."

The report shows how these techniques are more effective in treating prostate tumors and help professionals both when offering localized treatment (surgery or radiotherapy) and in the use of more advanced therapies once the cancer has already spread.

All this represents an improvement in the management of patients with this type of tumor.

The combination of PET and Computed Tomography (CT) technologies offers an accuracy of 92% for detecting the spread of prostate cancer compared to 65% with standard images.

This precision together with its impact on management has contributed to its inclusion in the European Association of Urology guidelines for the detection of primary and recurrent diseases.

Improve the support network

Currently, PSMA PET/CT is used in Spain within clinical trials and in routine clinical practice upon request and authorization from the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), but it is subject to accessibility and financing of each center .

So that

in 2021 it has only been used in 1,800 patients

of the more than 35,700 diagnosed.

OncoRetos, promoted by Luzán 5 Health Consulting, warns at this point how

important it is to improve the PSMA PET/CT assistance network in some areas where there are saturated teams.

In addition, it highlights other

areas of Spain in which there is a care gap.

In this sense, Josep Tabernero, coordinator of the OncoRetos Group, assures that "a collective effort is necessary to incorporate PET into the daily management of the different phases of prostate cancer".

"Even with these new imaging techniques, the location and extent of the disease are detected early, which means that ineffective tests and treatments are not carried out, improving the course of the disease and reducing costs."

The National Health System (SNS) plans to

acquire 47

PET equipment through a public purchase for more than 114 million euros, financed through the INVEAT Plan (Investment in High Technology Equipment).

From OncoRetos they urge that the incorporation of the equipment occurs as soon as possible and warn that the number of PETs "far exceeds" the availability in the number of specialists trained to use this tool.

In this sense, Dr. Castell emphasizes the need to "reduce the impact of the lack of specialists" and that "those professionals and centers with more experience carry out training and advice so that access to the technique, when it occurs , be in the appropriate indications".

On the other hand, these experts are also concerned that the production of PSMA is being "insufficient" causing "high waiting lists" and they believe that the mismatch between supply and demand "will worsen even more" when the AEMPS authorizes its use in appropriate clinical conditions if an adequate territorial distribution network for this radiopharmaceutical is not planned.

Made by UE Studio

This text has been developed by UE Studio, a creative branded content and content marketing firm from Unidad Editorial, for LUZAN 5.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more