The Clinical Utility of 18F-Fluciclovine PET/CT in Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer: an Academic Center Experience Post FDA Approval.

To evaluate the diagnostic performance and clinical utility of 18F-fluciclovine PET/CT in patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer (PC).

18F-Fluciclovine scans of 165 consecutive men with BCR after primary definitive treatment with prostatectomy (n = 102) or radiotherapy (n = 63) were retrospectively evaluated.

Seventy patients had concurrent imaging with at least one other conventional modality (CT (n = 31), MRI (n = 31), or bone scan (n = 26)). Findings from 18F-fluciclovine PET were compared with those from conventional imaging modalities. The positivity rate and impact of 18F-fluciclovine PET on patient management were recorded. In 33 patients who underwent at least one other PET imaging (18F-NaF PET/CT (n = 12), 68Ga-PSMA11 PET/CT (n = 5), 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT (n = 20), and 68Ga-RM2 PET/MRI (n = 5)), additional findings were evaluated.

The overall positivity rate of 18F-fluciclovine PET was 67 %, which, as expected, increased with higher prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels (ng/ml): 15 % (PSA < 0.5), 50 % (0.5 ≤ PSA < 1), 56 % (1 ≤ PSA < 2), 68 % (2 ≤ PSA < 5), and 94 % (PSA ≥ 5), respectively. One hundred and two patients (62 %) had changes in clinical management based on 18F-fluciclovine PET findings. Twelve of these patients (12 %) had lesion localization on 18F-fluciclovine PET, despite negative conventional imaging. Treatment plans of 14 patients with negative 18F-fluciclovine PET were changed based on additional PET imaging with a different radiopharmaceutical.

18F-Fluciclovine PET/CT remains a useful diagnostic tool in the workup of patients with BCR PC, changing clinical management in 62 % of participants in our cohort.

Molecular imaging and biology. 2021 Jan 19 [Epub ahead of print]

Ryusuke Nakamoto, Caitlyn Harrison, Hong Song, Kip E Guja, Negin Hatami, Judy Nguyen, Farshad Moradi, Benjamin Lewis Franc, Carina Mari Aparici, Guido Davidzon, Andrei Iagaru

Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305-5281, USA., Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305-5281, USA. .

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