Prostate Cancer Imaging Symposium 2024
On October 8, the Body Imaging Research Group hosted the 2024 Prostate Cancer Imaging Symposium at UCSF. This event convened researchers developing and applying advanced imaging techniques to prostate cancer. Speakers included imaging scientists, informatics scientists, radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, oncologists, and radiation oncologists who presented work on PET, SPECT, MRI, and theranostic agents, and applied them across the spectrum of prostate cancer progression from diagnosis to treatment of advanced disease. The hybrid event attracted over 50 attendees and sparked numerous discussions that will hopefully seed future collaborations.
Highlighted Presenters:
Organizer Peder Larson, PhD, said, “I continue to be impressed by work in the field of theranostics, where Drs. Hope and Flavell showed excellent work ranging from fundamental agent development to use of these methods in a clinical service.”
Drs. Scholey and Hong presented exciting use cases of MRI and PSMA PET for radiotherapy of localized and metastatic disease. There were clearly strong collaborations across radiation oncology, radiology, urology, and medical oncology driving innovations in this space. The arrival of proton therapy at UCSF, targeted for 2029, will also transform treatment of primary disease.
Dr. Noworolski showed how the use of detailed pathology results, progression results, and imaging biomarkers from diffusion, DCE, and spectroscopy can provide very strong predictions and cancer risk maps.
Hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI showed promising results across the spectrum of prostate cancer, as presented by Drs. Bok and Vigneron, including disease identification and biopsy guidance, treatment response of localized disease, and treatment response of metastatic disease. Dr. Sriram showed how this technology was being used in co-clinical studies, where preclinical patient-derived xenografts are used to better understand and support clinical studies.
Multiparametric MRI has become a clinical standard for early assessment of disease, and Dr. Vigneron also showed how he and others at UCSF, particularly emeritus professor John Kurhanewicz, played a huge role in developing mpMRI methods.
The presentations showed many opportunities for synergy:
- Cross modality integration across PET, MRI, and theranostic approaches
- Radiotherapy boosting and response monitoring in the prostate based on advanced use of multiparametric MRI and hyperpolarized MRI
- Is it time to try and revitalize MR spectroscopy with modern acquisition and reconstruction methods? Can it be made robust and fast enough for clinical use?
- Coordination of patient enrollment across trials, and even joint trials, with clear coordination with urologists and/or oncologists
- Helping to define standards for where to most effectively use advanced imaging across the spectrum of prostate cancer progression
- Better integration of imaging features with clinical and genomic biomarkers through tools such as Information Commons
Thanks to all the great speakers!
- PSMA Research Update, by Dr. Tom Hope
- Molecular imaging of CD46 in prostate cancer? by Dr. Robert Flavell
- MRI for Prostate Radiotherapy: Recent Advances & Future Prospects, by Dr. Jessica Scholey
- Opportunities for Imaging AI in Radiotherapy for Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer, by Dr. Julian Hong
- Overview of Clinically-Focused HP13C-MRI Prostate Cancer Imaging Studies at UCSF, by Dr. Bob Bok
- Multiparametric Proton MRI of Prostate Cancer, by Dr. Sue Noworolski
- Perspectives on Prostate MRI Research, by Dr. Dan Vigneron
- Hyperpolarized 13C Imaging-Assisted Co-Clinical Trial of Therapeutic Response of small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer to chemotherapy, by Dr. Renuka Sriram
Special thanks to the UCSF Precision Imaging in Cancer and Therapy (PICT) and Prostate SPORE programs for sponsoring.
By Peder Larson