Ga-68 PSMA-11 PET/MRI Superior to Multiparametric MRI in Prostate Cancer Detection

The sensitivity of gallium 68 (68Ga)–labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen–11 PET/MRI in the detection of prostate cancer is better than that of multiparametric MRI, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, performed a retrospective study to compare the diagnostic accuracy of 68Ga–labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)–11 PET/MRI with that of multiparametric MRI in the detection of prostate cancer.

Thirty-two men, median age 68 years, participated in the trial. All had undergone simultaneous 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI before radical prostatectomy between December 2015 and June 2017. The reference standard was whole-mount pathologic examination. Readers were blinded to radiologic and pathologic findings. Tumor localization was based on 30 anatomic regions.

The results showed that the region-specific sensitivities of PET/MRI was 74% and multiparametric MRI was 50% with the alternative neighboring approach. It was 73% for PET/MRI and 69% for multiparametric MRI with the population-averaged generalized estimating equation. Region-specific specificity of PET/MRI was similar to that of multiparametric MRI with the alternative neighboring approach (88% vs 90%) and in population-averaged estimates (70% vs 70%). SUVmax was associated with a Gleason score of 7 and higher.

The researchers concluded that the sensitivity of gallium 68–labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen–11 PET/MRI provided better results in the prostate cancer detection than did multiparametric MRI.