From 2023 to 2025, the Vontobel Foundation is supporting a research project led by Prof. Dr. med. Irene Burger, which aims to improve prostate cancer diagnostics.
This medical research project is under the leadership of Prof. Dr. med. Irene Andrea Burger, Head of the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Imaging Center at Kantonsspital Baden with a research assignment at the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University Hospital Zurich. Her research focuses on hybrid imaging, combining radiology and nuclear medicine in order to detect tumors early and precisely.
In close collaboration with Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), the research team led by Dr. Burger is currently working on improving prostate cancer diagnostics.
In the early stages of the tumor, single-cell analysis of prostate cancer biopsies aims to identify the growth pattern to tailor further diagnostics precisely to the tumor type. Previous research has shown that tumors with infiltrative growth are barely visible on conventional imaging and can therefore be significantly underestimated as to their extent. Currently, it is only after the prostate is removed that the type of growth is known. By correlating single-cell analyses, imaging, and the histopathology of the prostate, the research team hopes to uncover what underlies this different growth pattern and whether it can be identified in a biopsy. This would allow the optimal imaging to be applied to each patient, potentially enabling better results in focal therapy.
Furthermore, the "DUPLET" sub-project aims to enable simultaneous imaging of two different tracers in a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. PET diagnostics with the tracer against prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has strongly influenced how prostate cancers are treated, enabling earlier and more precise therapies. However, this PSMA-PET does not provide information about the tumor's metabolism, for which a second PET with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) would be needed. This is particularly interesting for patients in a later tumor stage, to decide whether PSMA-targeted therapy or chemotherapy would be better suited for the patient.
Thanks to very good cameras and mathematical models used by particle physicists to characterize the decay of various PET nuclides, the research team hopes to apply two tracers simultaneously. This would allow patients to be examined more cost-effectively and efficiently.
"We are looking for the optimal type of imaging for each prostate cancer patient, which will enable cost-effective and efficient examination in the future."
Prof. Dr. med. Irene Burger, Head Physician, Kantonsspital Baden
"Supporting young researchers in medicine strengthens Switzerland as a research location. The project meets the highest scientific standards."
Prof. Dr. med. Giatgen Spinas, Board Member, Vontobel Foundation