BALTIMORE, MD -- August 13, 1997 -- One of the major questions for
people diagnosed with cancer is whether the cancer has spread. A
new test is now available for men with prostate cancer to more
accurately find cancerous cells that have spread to lymph nodes
anywhere in the body.

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center are among
the first in the United States to use the test on 18 patients,
which helps patients receive the best treatment and avoid
unnecessary surgery.

"This new test, called ProstaScint, fills a void," says Salma
Khan, M.D. a nuclear medicine specialist at the University of
Maryland Medical Center and assistant professor of radiology
at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "It gives
us more information and helps us to determine the best course
of therapy for each patient."

The test uses a monoclonal antibody designed to find and attach
itself to the wall of prostate cancer cells. The antibody is
combined with a radioactive tracer, indium 111, to form a drug
that is injected into a patient. After four days, the patient's
body is scanned. Lymph nodes that have been invaded by prostate
cancer cells appear as "hot spots" on the test.

Through this analysis, doctors can determine whether the cancer
has remained local, within the prostate, or if it has spread to
lymph nodes anywhere in the body. It can find tumors within lymph
nodes as small as a quarter of an inch in length.

The ProstaScint is useful in patients with newly diagnosed
prostate cancer to help decide if they should have surgery to
remove the prostate. The test also helps post-surgical patients
with rising blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), to
determine where the cancer may have spread. Before this test was
available, patients received a CT scan. That test only detects
enlarged lymph nodes once they reach about one-third of an inch
in size, and does not reveal whether the nodes are enlarged because
of cancer.

"This new test will help us determine which patients should
undergo surgery," says Stephen Jacobs, M.D., professor of
surgery and head of urology at the University of Maryland
Medical Center. "If the cancer has spread, surgical removal
of the prostate would not cure the disease. Patients whose
cancer has spread outside the prostate gland may benefit from
radiation therapy. And if cancer is evident in the lymph nodes
outside of the pelvis, hormonal therapy may be the best
treatment," says Dr. Jacobs, who is also co-director of the
Urologic Oncology Program at the University of Maryland's
Greenebaum Cancer Center.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 317,000 men
in the United States were diagnosed with prostate cancer in
1996. It is the most common type of cancer in men.

The test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
in late 1996. Since then, selected sites around the country have
been using ProstaScint. Each hospital must go through an
accreditation process prior to becoming certified to perform
the exam.

Other antibody tracer exams are currently used for diagnosis
of colorectal, lung, and ovarian cancer. Studies are underway
to evaluate use of antibody tracer tests for patients with
breast cancer and lymphoma.

The University of Maryland's Greenebaum Cancer Center provides
a full spectrum of diagnosis and treatment options for patients
with prostate and other urologic cancers.