Clinical Value of FEC-PET Combined With Endorectal MRI for Pre-therapeutic Staging of Prostate Cancer

"PET scans were performed on a LSO scanner (ECAT ACCEL, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) by using a multiphase protocol starting with a cold transmission scan of the lower pelvis. This was followed by a list mode emission scan with 10 frames à 1 minute starting immediately after the administration of 3.3MBq \[18F\]Fluoroethylcholine chloride (FEC; Eckert \& Ziegler EURO-PET Berlin GmbH) as a bolus through the cubital vein. After a short gap due to computer processing time the whole body scan was performed starting at the upper thoracic aperture down to the proximal femur. Acquisition parameters were 3 minutes emission scan and 2 minutes transmission scan for each bed position. Therefore the prostate region was scanned again at 45 minutes p.i. (post injection) A delayed local acquisition at 65 minutes over the lower pelvis with 6 minutes emission and 2 minutes transmission finished the diagnostic acquisition procedure."

The MRI examination was performed on a 1.5Tesla MRI system (Gyroscan ACS-NT, Philips, Hamburg, Germany) with combined QBody and endorectal coil. Pelvic assessment and lymph node staging was effected with 5mm T2 weighted (T2w) turbo spin echo (TSE) transversal and a coronal short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) sequence. For prostate assessment, 3mm endorectal T2w spin echo (SE) sagittal, transversal and coronal sequences were acquired.