London researchers conducted a study on a new imaging method to better detect prostate cancer in men, aiming to improve survival rates and provide a better quality of life for patients.
The trial ran from 2018 to 2022 at healthcare centres across Ontario, including St. Joseph’s Hospital. It was led by St. Joseph’s Health Care London, the London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute, and the University Health Network.
Dr. Glenn Bauman, a Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry professor and director of the Centre for Translational Cancer Research, said the purpose of this study was to “make a novel form of imaging for prostate cancer available to men in Ontario.”
The new type of scan works by injecting a radioactive tracer into a patient’s bloodstream before they undergo a positron emission tomography, or PET, scan. The tracer binds to prostate cancer cells — particularly, the prostate-specific membrane antigen, or PSMA, present in prostate cells.
“Men whose treatment was changed to the PSMA PET scan seemed to have better survival than men whose treatment was not changed,” said Bauman in an interview with the Gazette. According to St. Joseph’s Hospital, 1,500 men in Ontario took part in this trial.
Bauman said the chemical tracers used in this type of PET scan were not approved for use by Health Canada before the trial. The study, which first used the technology in 2016, was intended to track the outcomes of patients who received the scans so they could be made available to the public.
In 2022, the provincial government estimated that 10,578 men in Ontario would be diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is the most common type of cancer in men, affecting around one in eight Canadian men in their lifetime. Approximately 5,000 people were expected to die from prostate cancer in Canada last year, making up 11 per cent of all cancer-related deaths.
Surgery is a viable option for some prostate cancers, and radiation therapy may also be used, but neither is usually effective for prostate cancers that have spread outside the prostate to areas such as the lymph nodes, bones, liver or lungs.
In the past, other types of scans were used to find prostate cancer in men, but Bauman said they were not always effective in more advanced cases. Men with advanced prostate cancer are often put on hormone therapy, cutting testosterone delivery to the prostate. This treatment stunts cancer cell growth, but negatively affects the patient’s quality of life.
According to Bauman, this type of scanning can detect the recurrence of cancer in many men. This can allow patients to receive more focused treatment, like radiation or surgery, and prevent them from being put on hormone drugs long-term.
“It could impact both survival and quality of life,” said Bauman.
Bauman emphasized the support of Ontario Health and Cancer Care Ontario for this study. “They saw the potential value of this test,” claimed Bauman.
Men in Ontario can now access this type of test under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.