[⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET and Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases: Diagnostic Performance of Available Standardized Criteria

Abstract

In up to two thirds of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET scans, unspecific bone uptake has been described. The aim of this study was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT for bone metastases and the occurrence of equivocal lesions. Methods: We analyzed retrospectively 118 patients who underwent a [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT for initial staging or recurrence evaluation. Lesions were interpreted according to the PSMA reporting and data system (PSMA-RADS) and the prostate cancer molecular imaging standardized evaluation (PROMISE) criteria. The SUV_max and the localization of each lesion were recorded. A combination of prior or follow-up examinations was used as a reference standard to categorize benign and malignant lesions. Correlation between the final diagnosis and imaging or clinicobiochemical parameters was tested. The diagnostic accuracy was calculated for different cutoffs of PSMA-RADS criteria, for PROMISE criteria, and the sequential combination of both. Results: In total, 265 bone abnormalities were identified in 70 of 118 patients. Among these, 148 (55.8%) lesions in 50 (42.4%) patients were classified as PSMA-RADS-3B. There were no PSMA-RADS-3D lesions in our cohort. Equivocal lesions were more frequent on the ribs (30.6%) followed by the pelvis (26.5%), but in the ribs, such an uptake was malignant in 33.3% of cases versus 66.7% in the pelvis. A significant association was found between the final diagnosis and the SUV_max, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), PSA doubling time, International Society of Urological Pathology score, and the number of foci. The sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 63.6% for the PSMA-RADS-3B cutoff, respectively; 40.5% and 100% for the PSMA-RADS-4 cutoff, respectively; and 89.3% and 96.6% for both the PROMISE criteria and the sequential PSMA-RADS/PROMISE strategy, respectively. In the sequential method, the number of equivocal lesions was reduced from 147 to 2. We found that 53% of PSMA-RADS-3B lesions were malignant; 95.5% of lesions classified positive by the sequential method were true positives, whereas 32.6% were false negatives. Conclusion: [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT has high accuracy for the diagnosis of bone metastases. Equivocal lesions constitute nearly half of the lesions seen on PSMA PET. The sequential combination of PSMA-RADS and PROMISE criteria reduces the number of lesions classified as equivocal. PSMA-RADS-3B lesions which are positive according to the PROMISE criteria should be considered highly suggestive of malignancy.