About Advanced Imaging Agents Used at the OSUCCC – James
With many diagnostic agents at the ready, and more to come in the future, the OSUCCC – James imaging specialists include two powerful imaging agents, Ga-68 Dotatate and F-18 Fluciclovine, in their advanced diagnostic capabilities.
While traditional agents can be nonspecific, Ga-68 Dotatate is an imaging agent that’s capable of tagging a specific receptor (protein molecule) on tumor cells seen only on neuroendocrine cancers.
F-18 Fluciclovine is an imaging agent that’s equally precise, tagging an amino acid transporter (another kind of protein) that is frequently found in prostate cancer cells.
As the first in the region to offer such advanced imaging capabilities, the OSUCCC – James imaging specialists offer an added diagnostic advantage for patients – ensuring that whatever shows up on a scan is highly specific either to neuroendocrine cancers or prostate cancers as the case may be, either as a primary malignancy or one that has spread.
And by being the first in central Ohio to employ Ga-68 Dotatate usage and perform these imaging capabilities so extensively, the OSUCCC – James experts are significantly experienced in interpreting these scans – all with a radio-pharmacy uniquely qualified to formulate and produce both Ga-68 Dotatate and F-18 Fluciclovine.
Remember, there’s no such thing as a routine cancer, and every person’s disease is different, with individually unique genes and molecules driving that disorder.
At the OSUCCC – James, our cancer specialists are world-renowned experts who reach across medical disciplines to design the very best diagnostics, treatment plan and therapies to target each patient’s specific disease.
If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, would like a second opinion or would like to speak with a cancer specialist, please call The James Line at 800-293-5066 or 614-293-5066 to make an appointment.
Why Ga-68 Dotatate and F-18 Fluciclovine Matter to You
The internationally recognized specialists at the OSUCCC – James believe the best way to treat patients and manage their disease successfully is to deliver the latest, most effective diagnostics and treatments available. Because these experts understand that cancer is complex, they use the most effective means of diagnosing and treating patients to design the very best treatment plan to target each patient’s specific cancer – offering improved outcomes, faster responses and fewer side effects.
That’s why they use numerous advanced imaging agents whenever possible to diagnose certain cancers.
Why advanced agents vs. traditional ones? Traditional agents can be nonspecific. For example, a PET scan agent (called F-18 FDG) most frequently used for imaging cancer is a glucose analog. But glucose-use is elevated in tumors as well as in infectious and inflammatory states – and that means what shows up on the PET scan may or may not actually be a tumor.
Other traditional agents, such as those used with a CT scan or an MRI, are also not as specific. Tumors will show up on those scans, but it is more difficult to match them definitively with a specific disease type. For example, a lesion in the adrenal gland from breast cancer could look much like a lesion in the adrenal gland from lung cancer.
But while those traditional imaging agents are non-specific, Ga-68 Dotatate and F-18 Fluciclovine are two agents that are highly specific – one to neuroendocrine cancer and the other to prostate cancer.
The OSUCCC – James was the first in the region to offer Ga-68 Dotatate usage, and because they’ve performed these imaging capabilities so extensively, these experts are significantly experienced in interpreting these scans – all with a radio-pharmacy uniquely qualified to formulate and produce both Ga-68 Dotatate and F-18 Fluciclovine.
What’s Next
The OSUCCC – James imaging experts are working on what’s new and next in diagnostics. This includes being the first and only cancer center in Ohio to pair Ga-68 Dotatate with a new therapeutic agent, called Lu-177 Dotatate, which was recently FDA-approved.
Until then, these specialists are working on setting up a clinical trial for expanded patient-access to the new therapeutic agent. And because that agent will be paired with Ga-68 Dotatate, the OSUCCC – James imaging professionals will have an even more highly reliable way not only to assess the extent of disease, but also offer a specific targeted therapy to hit solely those areas identified on the scan.
Clinical Trials and Research
For cancer patients, research and clinical trials mean hope. Clinical trials are research studies designed to test new, innovative ways to prevent, detect, diagnose or treat cancer patients.
The OSUCCC – James has hundreds of open clinical trials at any given time, with some of the world’s latest discoveries available to patients right here in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, patients have access to more cancer clinical trials here than at nearly any other hospital in the region as well as access to some of the most advanced, targeted treatments available.
Patients can enter clinical trials before, during or after starting their individual treatments.
The OSUCCC – James is one of only a few U.S. cancer centers funded by the National Cancer Institute to conduct phase I and phase II clinical trials. These trials go only to centers that demonstrate an exemplary capacity for research and clinical care, the expertise to deliver the latest in treatments, and the infrastructure to interpret and track treatment results.
If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, would like a second opinion or would like to speak with a cancer specialist, please call The James Line at 800-293-5066 or 614-293-5066 to make an appointment.
Imaging Team
The OSUCCC – James experts include world-renowned specialists and subspecialists in diagnostic imaging for oncology.