For patients with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels after radical prostatectomy, 18F-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-1007 positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has a high detection rate for pathological findings, according to a study to be published in the January 2022 issue of Translational Oncology.
For the study, Xing Zhou, from Sichuan Cancer Hospital in Chengdu, China, and colleagues enrolled 71 patients with prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy to examine the value of 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT. Patients had a median PSA level of 1.27 ng/mL. After injection of 18F-PSMA-1007, all patients underwent whole-body PET/CT imaging.
The researchers found that 56 patients (79 percent) had at least one pathological finding on 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT. Among patients with PSA of ≤0.5, 0.51 to 1.0, 1.1 to 2.0, and >2.0 ng/mL, the rates of positive scans were 50, 80, 100, and 100 percent, respectively. Patients had a median Gleason score of 8; a higher Gleason score (≥8 versus ≤7) yielded significantly higher detection rates (88.9 versus 58.3 percent). For patients with PSA of ≤0.5, 0.51 to 1.0, 1.1 to 2.0, and >2.0 ng/mL, the median maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of positive findings was 4.51, 4.27, 11.50, and 14.08, respectively. Patients with PSA >2.0 ng/mL had significantly higher median SUVmax than those with PSA ≤2.0 ng/mL (14.08 versus 6.13).
“We found that 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT exhibited a high sensitivity in detecting PSMA-positive lesions,” the researchers wrote. “We successfully localized the recurrence for 56 patients, with the detection rates of 79 percent.”
