Colon Cancer Diagnosis With FAPI-PET Imaging

November 26, 2025 updated by: Turku University Hospital

Diagnostic Efficacy of 18F-FAPI-74 PET/CT in Patients With Colon Cancer

Whole body CT is the primary imaging method in staging and follow-up of colon cancer. Conventional PET-CT with 18F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) has its limitations and has a secondary role in colon cancer protocols. A new PET tracer, fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI), targeting a protein that is overexpressed by cancer-associated fibroblasts presents a potential new PET imaging tool.

The objective of this prospective study is to evaluate diagnostic efficacy of 18F-FAPI-74 PET/CT in patients with colon cancer. The aim is to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FAPI-74 in detection of local lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis in patient level in patients with colon cancer in primary staging and when suspected recurrence. 100 patients with colon cancer are enrolled and PET/CT studies are performed with the novel 18F-FAPI-74 tracer. The data will be collected between 2024-2026.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Finland
      • Turku, Finland
        • Recruiting
        • Turku PET Centre, Turku University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with primary colon cancer with suspicion of mesenteric lymph node metastases in computed tomography before primary cancer operation
  • Patients with primary colon cancer with potentially curable metastases
  • Patients with suspected metastasis or local recurrence in computed tomography and/or elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in cancer surveillance
  • WHO performance score 0-2
  • Patient signs informed consent form after receiving written information

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Vulnerable study subjects such as described in Finnish law clinical studies (disabled, children, pregnant or breast-feeding women, prisoners) will not be included
  • Patient is not able to understand purpose of study
  • Medical conditions prohibiting whole body PET-CT

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Staging
Device: PET/CT ([F-18]FAPI-74)
PET/CT with FAPI-74 tracer is performed

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
1) To assess the sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FAPI-74 PET/CT in detection of local lymph node metastasis in patient level in patients with primary colon cancer
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years
2) To assess the sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FAPI-74 PET/CT in detection of distant metastasis in patient level in patients with primary colon cancer
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years
3) To assess the sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FAPI-74 PET/CT in detection of local lymph metastasis and distant metastasis in patient level in patients with recurrent colon cancer
Time Frame: 2 years
2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Turku University Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Saila Kauhanen, Turku PET Centre, Turku University Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 9, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 26, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2025

First Posted (Estimated)

December 9, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 9, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2025

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Colon-FAPI

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Subscribe