REVIEW  FOCUS ON 64CU: RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS AND CLINICAL APPLICATIONS 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2020 December;64(4):382-92

DOI: 10.23736/S1824-4785.20.03277-X

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Copper, PET/CT and prostate cancer: a systematic review of the literature

Arnoldo PICCARDO ¹ ✉, Martina UGOLINI ¹, Sergio RIGHI ², Gianluca BOTTONI ¹, Angelina CISTARO ¹, Francesco PAPARO ³, Luca GIOVANELLA ⁴, Laura EVANGELISTA ⁵

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, EO Ospedali Galliera, Genoa, Italy; ² Medical Physics Department, EO Ospedali Galliera, Genoa, Italy; ³ Department of Radiology, EO Ospedali Galliera, Genoa, Italy; ⁴ Clinic for Nuclear Medicine, Imaging Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland; ⁵ Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Medicine (DIMED), University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Copper is an essential element that plays an important role in both cancer development and growth. Indeed, high levels of copper have been found in prostate cancer (PCa), and this finding have paved the way for the use of this element as a target for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Copper64 (64Cu) can be used alone, as ⁶⁴CuCl2, and also as a precursor for the in-vitro radio-labelling of specific carriers for PET imaging in PCa, (e.g. associated to prostate-specific membrane antigen: PSMA). The use of ⁶⁴Cu-PSMA can yield late acquisitions in which PET images are characterized by a higher target-to-background ratio. At the same time, the shorter positron range of ⁶⁴Cu provides high spatial resolution, which leads to better detection of small lesions. In this context, the aim of this review was to systematically review studies evaluating the identification of PCa in humans by means of ⁶⁴CuCl2 and other PET tracers radio-labelled with ⁶⁴Cu.

KEY WORDS: Copper; Positron emission tomography computed tomography; Prostatic neoplasms