Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen PET for Assessment of Primary and Recurrent Prostate Cancer with Histopathology as Reference Standard: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Prostate-specific membrane antigen PET is a promising diagnostic tool in prostate cancer. The gold standard for the detection of prostate tumor and lymph node metastases is histopathology. The aim of the present review was to investigate accuracy measures of ⁶⁸Ga/¹⁸F-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen PET tracers in primary and recurrent prostate cancer with systematic sector-based histopathology as the reference standard. A systematic literature search was performed and 34 studies were included. Overall, prostate-specific membrane antigen PET showed high specificity, but variable sensitivity to localize known prostate cancer and detect pelvic lymph node metastases.

Keywords: Histopathology; Lymph node metastases; PSMA PET; Personalized medicine; Primary tumor location; Prostate cancer.