Prostate cancer: New molecule tested

ICNAS pioneer clinical application of new radiopharmaceutical for prostate cancer detection. A new molecule for detection of prostate cancer, produced by a team of scientists from the Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), has just been introduced into clinical practice in Portugal.

Photo: AP Photo

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The first exam of Tomography Positron Emission (PET/CT) with PSMA-Ga68, the name of the new molecule, has been held in Coimbra.

Early detection

The introduction of this radiopharmaceutical element in the health care field is the work that has been developed in ICNAS by a multidisciplinary team for about four years, and "constitutes a significant step forward in the evaluation of this disease by allowing an early detection of prostate cancer, especially in relapse situations," says Miguel Castelo Branco, director of ICNAS.

Besides allowing a cancer assessment on the prostate which is much more effective, using the new molecule will not have a higher cost than the current radiopharmaceutical available in the market - Fluorcolina - 18F.

The coordinator for the clinical area of ICNAS, Joao Pedroso de Lima, believes this new survey meets all the conditions to "replace the use of Fluorcolina - 18F in Portugal. The molecule produced in ICNAS, already used in some European countries, is much more sensitive, allowing the evaluation parameters impossible to identify by other diagnostic methods and provides essential information to detect early, and locate the tumor recurrence and their metastasis. "

An Autonomous Organism of the University of Coimbra (UC), ICNAS is dedicated to biomedical research and clinical application of molecules labeled with radioactive substances.

Over the past years, the Institute has played a leading role in the country, in the production and use of multiple molecules (radiopharmaceuticals) for performing CT Positron emission studies  (PET / CT) in various clinical situations, particularly in Oncology, Neurology and cardiology.

Cristina Pinto

University of Coimbra

Translated from the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru by Ekaterina Santos