Title:Computerized Tomography (CT) Updates and Challenges in Diagnosis of Bone Metastases During Prostate Cancer
Volume: 16
Author(s): Jinguo Zhang, Guanzhong Zhai, Bin Yang and Zhenhe Liu*
Affiliation:
- Department of Radiology, Dezhou People's Hospital, Dezhou, Shandong,China
Keywords:
Prostatic Neoplasms, tomography, neoplasm metastases, diagnosis, bone neoplasms, CT.
Abstract: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. This cancer is often associated
with indolent tumors with little or no lethal potential. Some of the patients with aggressive
prostate cancer have increased morbidity and early deaths. A major complication in advanced prostate
cancer is bone metastasis that mainly results in pain, pathological fractures, and compression
of spinal nerves. These complications in turn cause severe pain radiating to the extremities and
possibly sensory as well as motor disturbances. Further, in patients with a high risk of metastases,
treatment is limited to palliative therapies. Therefore, accurate methods for the detection of bone
metastases are essential. Technical advances such as single-photon emission computed tomography/
computed tomography (SPECT/CT) have emerged after the introduction of bone scans. These
advanced methods allow tomographic image acquisition and help in attenuation correction with
anatomical co-localization. The use of positron emission tomography/CT (PET/CT) scanners is
also on the rise. These PET scanners are mainly utilized with 18F-sodium-fluoride (NaF), in order
to visualize the skeleton and possible changes. Moreover, NaF PET/CT is associated with higher
tracer uptake, increased target-to-background ratio and has a higher spatial resolution. However,
these newer technologies have not been adopted in clinical guidelines due to lack of definite evidence
in support of their use in bone metastases cases. The present review article is focused on current
perspectives and challenges of computerized tomography (CT) applications in cases of bone
metastases during prostate cancer.