Humboldt Fellow Caner Civan
Detecting prostate cancer early
- von Dr. Alexandra Nießen
- 26.08.2025
How accurately can we predict prostate cancer outcome? Dr Caner Civan is conducting research on this topic as part of the international PROMISE Registry Study at Essen University Hospital. He is currently a Humboldt Fellow working with Prof Dr Wolfgang Fendler.
The PROMISE Registry Study – short for “Prostate Cancer Molecular Imaging Standardised Evaluation” – is a large, international collective study on prostate cancer. It is being conducted worldwide in centres that use prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (PSMA-PET) to see and treat the disease in nuclear medicine clinics. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the project was initiated by Prof Dr Wolfgang Fendler at the Essen University Hospital (UK Essen). University Hospitals in Münster and Cologne are also participating.
At UK Essen, Dr Caner Civan is analysing what information nuclear medicine imaging can provide about prostate cancer. To do this, patients are injected with a radioactively labelled substance (tracer) that makes the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) visible. This molecule is found on tumour cells much more frequently than on healthy cells and therefore serves as a reliable marker. ‘Because PSMA is so strongly present on tumour cells, we can target radioactive substances specifically at them,’ says Civan.
He considers PET scans to be a major advance, as they ‘enable my colleagues and me to see exactly where the prostate cancer is located,’ says the 32-year-old expert. The images show much more accurately than previous methods how and where the cancer is spreading. ‘I am convinced that molecular imaging with PET tracers will play a decisive role in personalised medicine.’
The nuclear medicine specialist conducted research at Istanbul University (Turkey) in the Department of Nuclear Medicine from 2018 to 2023. At UK Essen, he wants to compare the results of patients in different stages of the disease and, as a Humboldt Fellow, continue to accompany the PROMISE study until 2027.
More information:
Dr Caner Civan, Caner.Civan@ext.uk-essen.de
Prof Dr Wolfgang Fendler, wolfgang.fendler@uk-essen.de
Editorial office: Dr Alexandra Niessen, phone: +49 (0)203/37-91487, alexandra.niessen@uni-due.de