The objective of the present essay was to describe the clinical value of bimodal 18F-choline-PET/mMRI and trimodal 18F-Choline-PET/MRI/TRUS fusion imaging in the assessment of PCa recurrence after both radical prostatectomy (RP) and radiation therapy (RT).

Radical prostatectomy (RP) and radiation therapy (RT) are well-established primary therapeutic options in the management of prostate cancer (PCa). Despite technical improvements, there is still a considerable risk of cancer recurrence after therapy. Indeed, 27-53% of all patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) or radiation therapy (RT) develop prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence (biochemical recurrence) [1]. In PCa patients with a clinical suspicion of recurrence, imaging plays...

Bimodal 18F-Choline-PET/mMRI fusion imaging to detect local recurrence after radical prostatectomy and radiation therapy. Image fusion is the process of combining relevant information from two or more images into a single image, which is more informative than either of the images separately [18]. To combine anatomical, functional and metabolic information obtained from different modalities at different times, the process of spatial co-registration is necessary, in order to ensure that the...

The performance of pelvic mpMRI is superior to that of choline-PET in depicting local relapse after RP and RT, whereas choline PET/CT is more accurate than mpMRI in detecting metastatic disease in pelvic lymph nodes. Both modalities are excellent in the assessment of skeletal metastases. The combination of mpMRI and choline-PET/CT provides a comprehensive assessment for the restaging of patients with biochemical recurrence after RP and RT, thus allowing local recurrence to be distinguished...

Dr. Luca Cevasco MD, School of Radiology University of Genoa, ITALY e-mail: dott.luca.cevasco@gmail.com

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