18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT for detection of disease in patients with prostate-specific antigen relapse following radical treatment of a local-stage prostate cancer

The present study aimed to retrospectively review the contribution of 18F-fluorodeoxygluose‑positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in the assessment of biochemical recurrence in patients with a diagnosis of local‑stage prostate cancer (PCa) who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) or received external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). A total of 28 patients who underwent RP or received EBRT for PCa between July 2007 and April 2013, and who underwent 18F‑FDG PET/CT scanning for re‑staging due to biochemical recurrence were included in the present study. The mean age of the patients was 65.07 years and the standard deviation was 7.51 years (range, 51‑82 years). Of the 28 patients, 23 (82.1%) underwent RP and 5 (17.9%) received definitive EBRT. Prior to scanning, all patients were required to fast for 6 h, and ~1 h after the intravenous injection of 555 MBq 18F‑FDG, whole‑body PET scans were performed from the skull base to the upper thighs. Whole‑body CT scans were performed in the craniocaudal direction. 18F‑FDG PET images were reconstructed using CT data for attenuation correction. Histopathology examination or clinical follow‑up was used to confirm any suspicious recurrent or metastatic lesions. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of 18F‑FDG PET/CT were 61.6, 75.0, 61.6, 75.0 and 71.4%, respectively. 18F‑FDG PET/CT can detect local and distant metastases with a high accuracy in the assessment of biochemical recurrence, thus detecting occult metastases and allowing the re‑staging of PCa in the patients receiving definitive treatment. It is considered that 18F‑FDG PET/CT may be useful in re‑assessing the patients with PCa receiving definitive treatment.