VCU Massey Cancer Center awarded $500,000 grant from NCI to enhance cancer treatments

By Michael Ford
University News Services

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Commonwealth University's Massey Cancer Center has earned a $500,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to upgrade its existing research grade PET scanner to a state-of-the-art, multi-slice, combined PET/CT scanner. The combined PET/CT scanner will improve doctors' abilities to diagnose cancer, determine how far it has spread and monitor patient responses to treatment.

The combined PET/CT machine allows physicians to perform two types of scans rapidly in one session without having to move the patient. The images then can be merged precisely so that the metabolic data of the PET scan directly coincides with detailed anatomic data of the CT scan to pinpoint the location and stage of tumors.

Created by a computer linked to an x-ray machine, computed tomography, or CT, is a series of detailed pictures of areas inside the body taken from different angles. When interpreted by specially trained radiologists, a CT scan reveals the precise location of abnormal tissue masses. However, it cannot always tell whether the mass is cancerous. 

To find cancer cells in the body, positron emission tomography, or PET, uses a radioactive sugar compound injected into the bloodstream to make detailed, computerized three-dimensional pictures of areas inside the body where the glucose is used. Because cancer cells use more of the sugar compound than normal cells, PET accurately identifies tumors based on metabolic activity. 

"By fusing the functional data provided by PET to the anatomical CT image, the new equipment will provide researchers and clinicians with specific information about a given tumor's response to treatment," said Karen A. Kurdziel, M.D., assistant professor of radiology and medical director of VCU's Molecular Imaging Center.  Kurdziel said the new equipment should enhance VCU's ability to participate in cancer-related phase I and phase II clinical trials.

A phase I trial is the first step in testing a new treatment in humans. These studies test the best drug delivery method for a new treatment - by mouth, intravenous infusion, or injection, for example - as well as the best dose. A phase II trial evaluates whether a new treatment has an anticancer effect.  For example, whether it shrinks a tumor or improves blood test results and whether it works against a certain type of cancer.

When identifying cancer cells, PET routinely uses fluorodeoxyglucose, or FDG, as a radioactive tracer. Current advances in PET include the development of new radioactive tracers that provide information on how fast a tumor is growing, how much oxygen it is using, whether or not a tumor is resistant to drugs, and how much blood supply it has. 

Kurdziel is principal investigator on a five-year, $2.2 million NCI contract to evaluate the effectiveness of new imaging agents and radiotracers. Using the combined PET/CT scanner, the new tracers will provide researchers with information about the location and chemical characteristics of a tumor in real time. This information can be used to select optimal treatments and more accurately target tumors using radiation treatment.

"Clinical research has shown that in comparison to a PET scan alone, PET/CT provides new information that can alter a patient's treatment plan to better target the cancer in approximately one-third of the cases," said Theodore D. Chung, M.D., associate professor of radiation oncology. "PET/CT will allow radiation oncologists to see the extent of the tumor more clearly and thus develop more precise treatment plans."

The VCU Health System and the university will match the NCI grant, making a total of $1 million available to upgrade the combined equipment.

VCU's Massey Cancer Center is one of only two NCI-designated cancer centers in Virginia and one of only 61 in the United States. VCU's Molecular Imaging Center already provides state-of-the-art clinical PET and magnetic resonance services and collaborates in Massey Cancer Center research, including NCI-funded projects and clinical trials.

For more information on VCU's Molecular Imaging Center visit www.molecularimaging.vcu.edu.