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Head-to-head comparison of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in the detection of biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer: summary of head-to-head comparison studies

Abstract

Purpose

Our meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT vs. 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI for biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.

Methods

We searched for relevant articles in PubMed and Embase until February 2022. Studies evaluating head-to-head comparison of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in men with prostate cancer biochemical recurrence were included. The quality of each study was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Performance Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool.

Results

A total of 5 studies with 219 patients were included in the analysis. The pooled overall detection rates of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in detecting recurrent PCa after definitive treatment were 0.89 (95% CI: 0.65–1.00), 0.92 (95% CI: 0.77–1.00), while the detection rates were 0.20 (95% CI: 0.05–0.41) and 0.29 (95% CI: 0.10–0.53) in local recurrence, 0.51 (95% CI: 0.33–0.69) and 0.52 (95% CI: 0.44–0.61) in lymph node metastasis, 0.18 (95% CI: 0.07–0.33) and 0.20 (95% CI: 0.09–0.35) in bone metastasis. There was no significant difference between the two imaging modalities in the overall detection rate (P = 0.82). In addition, detection rates were also not significantly different in local recurrence, lymph node metastasis, or bone metastasis (P = 0.54, 1.00, 0.82).

Conclusions

68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI seem to have equivalent performance in detecting biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer. However, the results of the meta-analysis were drawn from studies with small samples. Further larger studies in this setting are warranted.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2: Summary risk of bias and applicability concerns of the included studies.
Fig. 3: Forest plot showing the pooled overall DR of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in BCR.
Fig. 4: Forest plot showing the pooled DR in local recurrence of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in BCR.
Fig. 5: Forest plot showing the pooled DR in lymph node metastasis of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in BCR.
Fig. 6: Forest plot showing the pooled DR in bone metastasis of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in BCR.
Fig. 7: Column chart showing the pooled DR in different locations.

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Data availability

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

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HH and BL conceived and designed the study, which were proofed by FY, SS and DH collected and analyzed the data. HH and FY wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

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Correspondence to Bin Liu or Fuwei Yang.

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Huo, H., Shen, S., He, D. et al. Head-to-head comparison of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in the detection of biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer: summary of head-to-head comparison studies. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 26, 16–24 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-022-00581-y

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