Diversifying the Subject Cohorts in Total-Body PET Research: A Feasibility Study

Introduction: Total-Body PET has the potential to dramatically change understanding of tissue and organ metabolism, and how small structures are visualized. Early studies using the EXPLORER total-body PET scanner at UC Davis recruited 30 healthy subjects that were close at hand and for the most part had local knowledge of the technology. This initial population was not representative of the community that UC Davis Health serves. The goal of this feasibility study was to initiate and evaluate an approach to promote greater diversity, especially of under-represented racial/ethnic groups, in this and future healthy subjects cohorts.

Methods: A pilot study was opened specifically targeting recruitment of 20 healthy subjects from under-represented racial/ethnic groups. In collaboration with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center's (UCDCCC) Community Advisory Board (CAB), we reviewed existing publicity material and noted that there was little representation of anyone of color. Together, we then created additional publicity material.  CAB members were invited to take an actual “ride” on the EXPLORER.  CAB members' experiences were video recorded.  The UCDCCC Senior Public Information Officer also arranged for TV broadcasts (11), radio advertisements (32) and news articles (3), reaching thousands of community members in the local area.  Publicity photographs produced before and after consultation with the CAB are shown in Figure 1. In this pilot study, the assessed outcome variables were number of subjects inquiring about the study and number of subjects enrolled.

Results: Approximately 155 inquiries were received from the public. Twenty subjects were enrolled, meeting the enrollment target for the protocol. Subjects underwent total-body dynamic FDG scans with additional static acquisitions. The self-reported racial and ethnic breakdown of the original study and of the enrolled subjects following the outreach are shown in Table 1.

Conclusions: Use of publicity materials and outreach approaches designed in consultation with the Community Advisory Board yielded a diverse subject cohort. This study provides a template for outreach and recruitment efforts for future research studies which aim to be more representative of the diversity of the local community.

Acknowledgements and Study ID:

NIH support and funding (P30-CA093373-18S4; R01-CA206187)

UC Davis IRB: 1714742; 1341792

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04812080

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