PSMA and Choline PET for the Assessment of Response to Therapy and Survival Outcomes in Prostate Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review from the Literature

Abstract

The aims of this systematic review were to (1) assess the utility of PSMA-PET and choline-PET in the assessment of response to systemic and local therapy, and to (2) determine the value of both tracers for the prediction of response to therapy and survival outcomes in prostate cancer. We performed a systematic literature search in PubMed/Scopus/Google Scholar/Cochrane/EMBASE databases (between January 2010 and October 2021) accordingly. The quality of the included studies was evaluated following the “Quality Assessment of Prognostic Accuracy Studies” tool (QUAPAS-2). We selected 40 articles: 23 articles discussed the use of PET imaging with [68Ga]PSMA-11 (16 articles/1123 patients) or [11C]/[18F]Choline (7 articles/356 patients) for the prediction of response to radiotherapy (RT) and survival outcomes. Seven articles (three with [68Ga]PSMA-11, three with [11C]Choline, one with [18F]Choline) assessed the role of PET imaging in the evaluation of response to docetaxel (as neoadjuvant therapy in one study, as first-line therapy in five studies, and as a palliative regimen in one study). Seven papers with radiolabeled [18F]Choline PET/CT (n = 121 patients) and three with [68Ga]PSMA-11 PET (n = 87 patients) were selected before and after enzalutamide/abiraterone acetate. Finally, [18F]Choline and [68Ga]PSMA-11 PET/CT as gatekeepers for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer with Radium-223 were assessed in three papers. In conclusion, in patients undergoing RT, radiolabeled choline and [68Ga]PSMA-11 have an important prognostic role. In the case of systemic therapies, the role of such new-generation imaging techniques is still controversial without sufficient data, thus requiring additional in this scenario.