Radioguided surgery with β radiation: a novel application with Ga68

Sci Rep. 2018 Nov 1;8(1):16171. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-34626-x.

Abstract

Radio Guided Surgery is a technique helping the surgeon in the resection of tumors: a radiolabeled tracer is administered to the patient before surgery and then the surgeon evaluates the completeness of the resection with a handheld detector sensitive to emitted radiation. Established methods rely on γ emitting tracers coupled with γ detecting probes. The efficacy of this technique is however hindered by the high penetration of γ radiation, limiting its applicability to low background conditions. To overtake such limitations, a novel approach to RGS has been proposed, relying on β- emitting isotopes together with a dedicated β probe. This technique has been proved to be effective in first ex-vivo trials. We discuss in this paper the possibility to extend its application cases to 68Ga, a β+ emitting isotope widely used today in nuclear medicine. To this aim, a retrospective study on 45 prostatic cancer patients was performed, analysing their 68Ga-PSMA PET images to asses if the molecule uptake is enough to apply this technique. Despite the expected variability both in terms of SUV (median 4.1, IQR 3.0-6.1) and TNR (median 9.4, IQR 5.2-14.6), the majority of cases have been found to be compatible with β-RGS with reasonable injected activity and probing time (5 s).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Beta Particles / therapeutic use*
  • Edetic Acid / administration & dosage
  • Edetic Acid / analogs & derivatives
  • Gallium Isotopes
  • Gallium Radioisotopes
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Oligopeptides / administration & dosage
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Radiopharmaceuticals / administration & dosage
  • Surgery, Computer-Assisted*

Substances

  • Gallium Isotopes
  • Gallium Radioisotopes
  • Oligopeptides
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • gallium 68 PSMA-11
  • Edetic Acid