Our Coming Together Against Cancer Fundraiser will provide funding to help Dr. Gorin (one of our panelists from John Hopkins) develop a novel imaging technique to address problems within the field of urologic oncology.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin malignancy in men, with an estimated 180,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United States. In the past 30 years the widespread use of a simple blood test has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of deaths due to prostate cancer. However, PSA screening remains highly controversial due to the unintended increase in the diagnosis of low-grade tumors that do not require treatment, but rather can simply be observed. Moreover, because a man’s PSA level can be elevated due to an enlarged prostate, PSA screening has substantially increased the overall number of prostate biopsies performed. These biopsies can result in complications. Therefore, it is critical that a non-invasive test to differential men at risk of harboring clinically significant prostate cancer from those with either low grade or no cancer.
To address this need, Dr. Gorin and his team have initiated a clinical trial to evaluate whether Pet imaging can be used to identify which men with elevated PSA level require a biopsy PSMA (Prostate-specific membrane antigen). PMSA is a protein that is found at high levels on prostate cancer cells but not on normal tissues. The radiotracer that was invented by Dr. Martin Pomper of John Hopkins will bind to cancer cells that can be detected by the PET scan. These results will be able to determine which men need prostate biopsy. The hope is that men with negative image can avoid a biopsy while a positive test can be used to guide prostate cancer detection.
Originally published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
