COMMENT
Matushita and colleagues performed a comprehensive review and meta-analysis about
the role of 68Ga PSMA PET in the diagnostic and in re staging of prostate cancer based
on the final selection of 35 studies with more than 3900 patients in this issue publication:
Ga-Prostate-specific membrane antigen (psma) positron emission tomography (pet) in
prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis (1). The evaluated series were
heterogeneous, since the review encompassed, as patients submitted to prostate biopsy
(diagnostic), as patients underwent radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy or lymphadenectomy,
and some series including MRI in combination with 68GA PSMA PET, also.
The use of ASTRO 1996 definition in this review, seems at first sight an interesting
choice, since the lower PSA cut-off for relapse (three consecutives PSA elevations
>0.2 ng/mL), when compared with Phoenix Definition (nadir plus 2.0 ng/mL), could result,
in early anatomic diagnostics of the recurrence sites by this nuclear scan, which
could result in early precise salvage treatments. However, an ASTRO consensus, in
2006, has recommend by the limitation use of ASTRO definition only for patients undergone
exclusive external beam radiotherapy, since this failure definition perform poorly
in patients which received hormonal therapy (2).
The review manuscript corroborated the high sensitivity and positivity from 68 PSMA
at diagnostic. It is really interesting mainly in when focal therapy is planned, being
as tool option for exclusion of some non-diagnosticated contralateral lesion after
an anatomopathological test revealing only unilateral cancer.
On the other hand, for bilateral tumors, evolving the whole gland, in the era of fusion
biopsy, probably 68Ga PSMA PET might be less ordered, because in this moment, anatomopathological
tests must not be excluded or replaced by functional image methods. In this scenario,
perhaps patients with high suspicion for prostate malignancies with previous negative
biopsies, can be benefited by the use of 68Ga PSMA (combined or not with MRI).
A great daily clinical practice challenge, is the re-staging of recurrent prostate
cancer, with was well discussed in the paper. We must reinforce that authors shown
that in the biochemical recurrence studies, a quarter of cases, the 68Ga PET CT are
negatives. Although it could sound unfavorable, in a recent study from our group (3),
which evaluated biochemical recurrence after primary treatments, with 68Ga PSMA PET,
in 57 patients with low and intermediate risks prostate cancer, we verified that in
half of them (49.12%) presented negative PET scans; 11 of whom undergone salvage therapies
and achieved 90% of significant PSA decline. Among, the remaining (50,8%) PET CT positive
patients, the 68Ga PSMA PET findings enhanced the discrimination between patients
with local recurrences, treated by salvage local radiotherapy from the patients with
distant dissemination, better candidates to systemic therapies.
The review text brings a broad overview (until April 2019) of the use of 68Ga PSMA
PET and its accuracy in the main clinical indications in an area of a great interest
of literature in the last few years. The read of this literature syntheses must be
recommended as subside for the reader for the future better understanding of functional
image tests in prostate cancer: when we search the mesh term “psma pet prostate cancer”
in the PUB MED website, we found more than 890 articles published between April 2019
up March 2021. It will be a hard task to be update in the next future.
More news are coming. Rauscher et al, in 2020, demonstrated that 68GA PSMA detect
five times less benign lesions in comparison with 18F PSMA 1007 (55 versus 245; p<0,001),
benign lesions were more frequently found in: ganglia, no specific lymph nodes and
in skeleton, in face of these findings, specific image readers’ training might be
dedicated according the isotope is used in PSMA in each pet scan modality is used
(4).
Although the use of 68PSMA PET in the biochemical recurrence can detect pelvic lymph
nodes in unusual locations, favoring the planning of salvage radiotherapy, conversely,
in the spectrum of salvage lymphadenectomy guided by PSMA ligand PET, there are several
open questions nowadays: microscopic spread to adjacent positive lymph nodes can be
not detected (5). We are not sure if the resection of sole positive nodes during the
salvage lymphadenectomy can be effective. The adequate biochemical control after salvage
lymphadenectomy guided by images from PSAM ligand PET, usually are reached only by
19-59% of the patients, and in many of them, only by short time length. More durable
results have been verified in cases in which a single lesion is positive. If positivity
of PSMA PET in unilateral, is really necessary to remove the contralateral nodes?
Must we resect nodes in an anatomical level above or in an anatomical level below
the positive PET Scan lesions? Future well controlled series are more than desirable
to solve many of these doubts. For better understanding in the future, for sure, this
review and meta-analysis from Brazilian and Italian authors, is so helpful.