Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the clinical utility of whole-body prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT combined with localized multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) (termed PSMA-integrated imaging) in optimizing diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making for patients with clinically suspected prostate cancer (PCa).
Methods The clinical, imaging and histopathological examination data of 110 patients with suspected PCa who underwent PSMA combined imaging at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from April to November 2024 were collected for a retrospective study. The patients were aged (73.0±7.4) years. Patients with localized PCa without distant metastasis who were excluded by PSMA combined imaging underwent radical prostatectomy (RP), and the postoperative histopathological examination results of the patients who underwent RP were used as the "gold standard" to compare the accuracy rates of PSMA combined imaging and mpMRI in the diagnosis of PCa TNM staging. All cases were collectively reviewed and treatment decisions were made by the multidisciplinary prostate cancer treatment team. The accuracy rates of PSMA combined imaging and mpMRI in diagnosing PCa stages were compared using the exact McNemar test.
Results Among the 110 suspected PCa patients, 4 patients (3.6%) were diagnosed as having benign prostatic hyperplasia based on the results of PSMA combined imaging and postoperative histopathological examination; the remaining 106 cases (96.4%) were clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa). Among the 106 csPCa patients, 40 patients (37.7%) did not change their original treatment plan and underwent RP after PSMA combined imaging; the remaining 66 patients (62.3%) adjusted their treatment plans, among which 41 patients (62.1%) were transferred to systemic treatment due to the discovery of distant metastasis, and the remaining 25 patients (37.9%) underwent neoadjuvant endocrine therapy before RP due to the elevation of pelvic T stage and N stage. The accuracy rate of PSMA combined imaging for T staging in PCa patients (62.5% vs. 45.0%, χ2=4.000, P=0.020) and the accuracy rate of N staging (80.0% vs. 67.5%) were both higher than those of mpMRI ( χ2=2.286, P=0.131).