In prostate cancer (PC) patients, the differentiation between lung metastases and lesions of different origin, for example, primary lung cancer, is a common clinical question. Herein, we investigated the use of Glu-NH-CO-NH-Lys(Ahx)-HBED-CC (⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC) for this purpose. Methods: PC patients (n = 1,889) undergoing ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET/CT or PET/MR scans were evaluated retrospectively for suggestive lung lesions. For up to 5 lesions per patient, location, CT diameter, CT morphology, and SUV_max were determined. The standard for classification was either histopathologic evaluation or, in the case of PC metastases, responsivity to antihormone therapy. A comparison of the different classes was executed by Student t test. Prostate-specific antigen and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) immunohistochemistry were performed if histologic samples were available; ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA autoradiography was performed on an exemplary case of PET-positive lung cancer. Results: Eighty-nine lesions in 45 patients were identified, of which 76 were classified as PC (39 proven, 37 highly probable), 7 as primary lung cancer, and 2 as activated tuberculosis; 4 lesions remained unclear. The mean SUV_max was 4.4 ± 3.9 for PC metastases and 5.6 ± 1.6 for primary lung cancer (P = 0.408). Additionally, substantial differences in SUV_max intraindividually were detected. The 2 tuberculous lesions showed an SUV_max of 7.8 and 2.5. Using immunohistochemistry, we could demonstrate PSMA expression in the neovasculature of several PSMA PET-positive lung cancers as well as in tuberculous lesions from our histologic database. Conclusion: Quantitative (SUV) analysis of ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET was not able to discriminate reliably between pulmonary metastases and primary lung cancer in PC patients. The reason for the unexpectedly high tracer uptake in non-PC lesions is not completely clear. PSMA expression in neovasculature provides a possible explanation for this finding; however, other contributing factors, such as tracer binding to proteins other than PSMA, cannot be excluded at present.

The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the detection rate of Glu-NH-CO-NH-Lys-(Ahx)-[⁶⁸Ga(HBED-CC)] (⁶⁸Ga-PSMA ligand; PSMA is prostate-specific membrane antigen) PET/CT in patients with biochemical recurrent prostate cancer defined by Phoenix criteria after external-beam radiotherapy or brachytherapy as primary treatment. Methods: One hundred eighteen patients with a median prostate-specific antigen (PSA) of 6.4 ng/mL (range, 2.2–158.4 ng/mL; interquartile range, 4.2–10.2 ng/mL) were finally eligible for this retrospective analysis. Seventy-seven and 41 patients had been treated by external-beam radiotherapy or brachytherapy, respectively. Of the 118 patients, 45 were receiving androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) within at least 6 mo before the PET/CT. The detection rates were stratified by PSA. The influence of primary Gleason score and ADT was assessed. Relationships between SUV and clinical as well as pathologic features in patients with positive findings were analyzed using univariate and multivariable linear regression models. Results: One hundred seven of 118 patients (90.7%) showed pathologic findings indicative for tumor recurrence in ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA ligand PET/CT. The detection rates were 81.8% (36/44), 95.3% (41/43), and 96.8% (30/31) for PSA of 2 to <5, 5 to <10, and ≥10 ng/mL, respectively (P = 0.0377). ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA ligand PET/CT indicated local recurrence in 68 of 107 patients (63.5%), distant lesions in 64 of 107 patients (59.8%), and local recurrence as well as distant lesions in 25 of 107 patients (23.4%). The detection rate was significantly higher in patients with ADT (97.7%) versus without ADT (86.3%, P = 0.0381), but independent from primary Gleason score ≥ 8 (92.0%) versus ≤ 7 (90.2%, P = 0.6346). SUV_max and SUV_mean were significantly associated with PSA and ADT (P = 0.018 and 0.004 for SUV_max, respectively; P = 0.025 and 0.007 for SUV_mean, respectively). Conclusion: ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA ligand PET/CT demonstrates high detection rates in patients with biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer after primary radiation therapy. The detection rate was positively associated to increasing PSA as well as concomitant ADT. ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA ligand PET/CT enables discrimination of local versus metastatic disease and thus might have a crucial impact on further clinical management. A major limitation of this study is the lack of histopathologic proof in most patients.

OpenAI’s GPT-4V reliably identified the imaging modality and anatomic region but could not safely detect, classify, or rule out abnormalities on single MRI, CT, and radiographic images.

The aim of this study was to assess the value of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT for quantitative assessment of hepatic metabolism in patients with different stages of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scans of 37 patients either with or without liver fibrosis/cirrhosis, classified according to the METAVIR score (F0-F4) obtained from histopathological analysis of liver specimen, were analyzed retrospectively and classified as follows: no liver fibrosis (F0, n = 6), mild liver fibrosis (F1, n = 11), advanced liver fibrosis (F2, n = 6), severe liver fibrosis (F3, n = 5), and liver cirrhosis (F4, n = 11). The liver-to-blood ratio (LBR, scan time corrected for a reference time of 75 min) was compared between patient groups. Patients with liver fibrosis or cirrhosis (≥ F1; LBR 1.53 ± 0.35) showed a significant higher LBR than patients with normal liver parenchyma (F0, 1.08 ± 0.23; P = 0.004). In direct comparison, LBR increased up to the advanced stage of liver fibrosis (F2; 2.00 ± 0.40) and decreased until liver cirrhosis is reached (F4, 1.32 ± 0.14). Functional changes in liver parenchyma during liver fibrosis/cirrhosis affect hepatic glucose metabolism and significantly differ between stages of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis, classified according to the METAVIR scoring system, as demonstrated by LBR quantification by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT.

Ga prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-HBED-CC PET/CT in a patient with a history of both prostate cancer (PC) and renal cell cancer (RCC) shows high PSMA expression in the residual right seminal vesicle suggestive of local recurrence of PC as well as suspected PSMA-positive mediastinal, retroperitoneal, and iliac lymph nodes. Regarding the latter, biopsy revealed lymph node metastases from RCC excluding PC metastases. This case exemplarily demonstrates that high PSMA expression in RCC metastases can potentially mimic PC metastases. Thus, for accurate interpretation of imaging results in PC patients with additional primary tumors, knowledge of PSMA expression of non-PC tissue is necessary.