C-11 Acetate for Prostate Cancer

Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center is one of the few hospitals in the country to offer C-11 Acetate imaging for recurrent prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and even after treatments such as prostatectomy, external radiation, brachytherapy and cryosurgery, prostate cancer can still reoccur.

Scans such as Computerized Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) don't consistently detect early treatable recurrent prostate cancer. 

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging using C-11 acetate has been shown to detect otherwise undetectable recurrent prostate cancer.  

This accuracy is critical because it can help determine which patients will benefit from more extensive pelvic radiation. From 10 to 30 percent of men with reoccurring prostate cancer will benefit from radiation of the prostate bed. Other patients can go through this difficult procedure needlessly.

Our C-11 acetate test requires only a single intravenous injection of a tracer and can be completed in less than an hour.