PET Molecular Imaging Clinic Fellow 2020-2021, Petra Lovrec, MD won two awards at the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). She won 2nd place in the Therapy Center of Excellence Young Investigator Awards and 3rd place in the SNMMI Early Career Professionals Committee in Clinical Track for the abstract, Metastatic Disease Response and Patterns of Recurrence in Men with High-Risk Prostate Cancer after Neo-Adjuvant Chemohormonal Therapy and Radical Prostatectomy utilizing PSMA-Targeted 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT. Steve Cho, MD was the PI of the study, and PET/Molecular Imaging Clinical Fellow, Patrick Belson, was a contributor.
The study found, “Results of initial staging with DCFPyL PET/CT prior to neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy and radical prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer were prognostic for post-prostatectomy progression. In particular, detection of more than three intrapelvic lymphadenopathies, any extrapelvic lymphadenopathy, or bone metastases in patients was associated with early progression following radical prostatectomy. Interestingly, at the time of progression, no new sites of PET-positive metastatic disease were found at the time of progression but rather, there was progression at the same sites. Additionally, the PSMA avidity of the hottest lesion was associated with the time to progression.”