Imaging of Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen Targeted Radiotracers for the Detection of Prostate Cancer Biochemical Recurrence after Definitive Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE: Prostate specific membrane antigen targeted radiotracers are promising agents for imaging patients with prostate cancer biochemical recurrence after definitive therapy. We report the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis of the detection of biochemical recurrence after definitive therapy for prostate cancer stratified by prostate specific antigen levels and using prostate specific membrane antigen targeted radiotracers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: estimate. The reference standard was pathology findings, followup imaging or a prostate specific antigen decline after salvage treatment. We calculated pooled estimates and the 95% CI around the prevalence of a positive examination in the study population using a random effects model. RESULTS: Ga prostate specific membrane antigen-11 (Ga-HBED-CC) positron emission tomography/computerized tomography. The pooled detection rate was 70.2% (95% CI 65.0-75.4) in the entire cohort. For prostate specific antigen less than 0.5, 0.5 to 0.9, 1 to 1.9 and 2 ng/ml or greater the pooled detection rate was 44.9% (95% CI 36.0-53.9), 61.3% (95% CI 52.3-70.3), 78.2% (95% CI 70.8-85.6) and 93.9% (95% CI 92.0-95.8), respectively. A reference standard was confirmed to be positive in 684 of the 715 patients (95.7%). There were significant study heterogeneity and publication biases (p <0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Prostate specific membrane antigen targeted radiotracers are likely effective to detect biochemically recurrent prostate cancer at low prostate specific antigen levels. However, existing studies are limited by retrospective design, limited reference standards, publication bias and a lack of interagent comparison.