Correlations between whole body volumetric parameters of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and biochemical-histopathological parameters in castration-naive and resistant prostate cancer patients

Annals of Nuclear Medicine (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the relationship between whole body volumetric (Wbv) results of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT with biochemical and histopathological parameters.

Methods

One hundred twenty-one prostate cancer patients who underwent 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT between January 2018 and December 2019 were included. Imaging was conducted for staging upon new diagnosis with moderate- and high-risk disease and for confirming the progression of castration resistance. The relationships between the Wbv 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT parameters and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, PSA doubling time and Gleason score (GS) were evaluated.

Results

The median GS and mean PSA levels were similar between the castration-naive and resistant patients. The PSA levels were positively correlated with MTVwb (p: 0.009, r: 0.286) and TLPwb (p: 0.002, r: 0.344). Gleason scores were positively correlated with MTVwb (p: 0.050, r: 0.216), TLPwb (p: 0.007, r: 0.296) and highest standard uptake value (HSUV) max (p: 0.047, r: 0.220). In the castration-naive group, Gleason scores (from p < 0.001 to p = 0.04 and r = 0.331 to 0.549) and PSA levels (from p = 0.002 to p = 0.045 and from r = 0.323 to 0.473) correlated with all 68Ga-PSMA-PET/CT parameters. PSA doubling time was negatively correlated with whole-body metabolic tumour volume (MTVwb) (p: 0.050, r: 0.232) and whole-body total lesion PSMA (TLPwb) (p: 0.026, r: 0.262). The MTVwb, TLPwb and HSUVpeak values of the patients with biochemical recurrence (BR) of 0–6 months (n = 18) were higher than those with BR > 2 years (n = 35) (p = 0.046, 0.047 and 0.042, respectively).

Conclusions

Wbv 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT results were correlated with PSA levels and Gleason scores. The correlation was relatively stronger in the castration-naive group. The prognostic accuracy of PSA in the resistant group may be weaker than in the naive group. The difference in volumetric parameters of patients with short BR compared to long BR supports the idea that 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT can distinguish patients with rapid relapse from others.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Gazi Yasargil Training and Research Hospital, Kayapınar, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Özgen Ahmet Yildirim & Erkan Erdur

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gazi Yasargil Training and Research Hospital, Kayapınar, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Cihan Gündoğan, Canan Can & Halil Kömek

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Gazi Yasargil Training and Research Hospital, Kayapınar, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Kerem poyraz

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  1. Özgen Ahmet Yildirim
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Yildirim, Ö.A., Gündoğan, C., Can, C. et al. Correlations between whole body volumetric parameters of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and biochemical-histopathological parameters in castration-naive and resistant prostate cancer patients. Ann Nucl Med (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-021-01594-8

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Keywords

  • Prostate cancer
  • 68ga-PSMA
  • PET/CT
  • Prostate-specific antigen
  • Gleason score