Home
Home
  • Home
  • About Us About Us
    • Overview
    • Who we are
    • Why we provide advice
    • What are health technologies
    • Meetings
    • News
    • Who we work with
    • Contact Us
  • What We Do What We Do
    • Overview
    • Our Strategy
    • Work programme
    • Range of advice products
    • Quarterly Bulletin of advice
    • Early HTA Advice Service
  • Our Advice
  • Request Advice Request Advice
    • Overview
    • Form for requesting advice
  • Get Involved Get Involved
    • Overview
    • Contribute to advice
    • NHS boards
    • Patient and Public Involvement
    • Industry Involvement
    • Observe a council meeting
    • DOI Form

Advice Statement

  • Home
  • Our Advice
  • Non-FDG tracers for use in PET-CT for suspected recurrent prostate cancer

Title

Output Type

Speciality

Published

Title

Non-FDG tracers for use in PET-CT for suspected recurrent prostate cancer

Output Type

Advice Statement

Speciality

Cancer

Published

28 April 2017

Recommendation for NHSScotland

  •  Implementing non-FDG PET-CT in Scotland for restaging patients with suspected prostate cancer recurrence has potential cost and infrastructure implications. All the evidence identified on non-FDG PET-CT restaging in prostate cancer patients addressed diagnostic accuracy, therefore no conclusions can be drawn about the effect on treatment decisions or patient outcomes in this population.
  • A small number of studies suggest 68Ga-PSMA is more accurate in detecting recurrent disease compared with cholines.
  • Large, prospective, multicentre studies are necessary to evaluate the cost effectiveness, diagnostic performance, impact on patient management and place in the patient care pathway of new non-FDG tracers (18F-FACBC or 68Ga-PSMA) in PETCT restaging of patients with suspected prostate cancer recurrence.

NHSScotland is required to consider the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) advice.

What were we asked to look at?

What is the most clinically effective and cost effective non-FDG tracer for use in PET-CT for staging and assessment of patients with suspected recurrent prostate cancer?

Why is this important?

Prostate cancer recurs in up to one in three men who have undergone treatment with curative intent for localised disease. Biochemical recurrence is initially demonstrated by a rise in total serum PSA, often despite normal findings with conventional imaging. Early detection and precise localisation of the site of recurrence is critical in informing further treatment decisions. 
Functional imaging with PET-CT has primarily used 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) as a radiolabelled tracer for oncological indications. For cancers, such as prostate cancer, where glucose metabolism is low, several non-FDG tracers have been developed. In Scotland choline tracers are currently used in PET-CT restaging of patients with suspected recurrent prostate cancer and there is growing interest in using anti18F-FACBC or 68Ga-PSMA.

Referred by

Scottish PET-CT Working Group

Download icon
Download Advice
pdf (210 KB)
Download icon
Download Evidence Note
pdf (987 KB)

Connect with Us

Please let us know if you'd like to receive regular updates on our work.


Last Updated: 31 January 2022

Scottish Health Technologies Group

© 2021, All rights reserved

  • Accessibility
  • Respecting your privacy
  • Cookies
  • Healthcare Improvement Scotland Website
  • Find us on Twitter
  • Freedom of Information

Tell us what you think


We'd love to hear your views

Was our advice useful?  Did you find what you were looking for on our website?