Dr Thompson and colleagues recently were honoured to have the initial results of their world-first DETECT trial published in the prestigious, high impact journal, JNM (Journal of Nuclear Medicine), the highest impact journal globally in its field.
The DETECT trial was the first of its kind: we performed real-time, image guided, robotic lymph node removal using a novel drop-in robotic probe developed in collaboration with colleagues at NKI (Netherlands Cancer Institute) and Martini Klinik Germany.
A molecule called PSMA (which finds and binds to the surface of prostate cancer cells anywhere in the body) is attached to another molecule called Technetium-99 which emits a signal that can be detected by a gamma probe.
In this trial, we injected Tc-99 bound to PSMA intra-venously prior to robotic prostate surgery for prostate cancer. We found that we could then use a robotic guided gamma probe to find any lymph nodes in the pelvis region that prostate cancer had spread to.
This innovative technology will help future surgeons to find and remove cancerous lymph nodes in difficult to reach locations, thus improving cancer control in men undergoing prostate cancer surgery.
further details of the trial can be found at:
https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2022/03/03/jnumed.121.263743