Evaluation of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT with volumetric parameters for staging of prostate cancer patients

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between volumetric data obtained from staging 68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET computerized tomography (CT) images with prostate-specific antigen (PSA), risk groups, Gleason Grade (GG) groups and presence of metastasis. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of 68Ga-PSMA PET-CT images from 88 patients undergoing initial staging of prostate adenocarcinoma between January 2015 and September 2018. Images were evaluated in LIFEx software; PSMA involvement above the background activity in prostate gland, lymph node and other distant metastases was plotted with 40% SUVmax threshold, SUVmax, PSMA tumor volume (PSMA-TV) and total lesion PSMA (TL-PSMA) values were obtained. RESULTS In all patients, there was a moderate correlation between PSA and PSMA-tumor volume whole-body (PSMA-TVwb) (P 3 (P = 0.030, 0.002, <0.001 and <0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION Pretreatment 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT volumetric parameters provides unique data to use in the clinical decision-making process of patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate.