Dr. Hope on Challenges With 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET in Prostate Cancer

Thomas Hope, MD, an associate professor of radiology and director of Molecular Therapy for the Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics Clinical Section of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), discusses challenges with 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET in men with intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer.

Topline results of a multicenter, single​-arm trial presented during the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program showed a 40% sensitivity rate and high specificity with 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET in detecting pelvic nodal metastases at the time of radical prostatectomy in this patient population, says Hope. ​As the primary end point was a sensitivity rate of around 65%, these measures were lower than expected.

Despite this, the study was not a failure​, explains Hope. ​Instead, it may be an indication of how this test functions. The results also illustrate how difficult small nodal metastasis is to identify.

According to current data, PSMA-11 PET appears to be markedly better compared with standard conventional imaging such as CT, MRIs, and bone scans, Hope concludes