Prostate-specific membrane antigen-directed imaging and radioguided surgery with single-photon emission computed tomography: state of the art and future outlook

Introduction Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has emerged as a highly relevant target for prostate cancer (PC) diagnosis and therapy. PSMA inhibitors targeting PSMA-enzymatic domain have been successfully labeled with radionuclides emitting positrons or gamma-photons, thus obtaining tracers suitable for imaging with positron emission computed tomography (PET/CT) or single-photon emission tomography (SPECT). Areas covered The different approaches for obtaining PSMA-ligands labeled with gamma-emitting nuclides (Tc-99m or(111)In) are reviewed. Furthermore, the applications of Tc-99m/In-111-PSMA SPECT for the imaging of PC patients in different clinical settings (staging or biochemical recurrence) are covered. Lastly, the employment of PSMA-targeted SPECT tracers for radioguided surgery (RGS) during primary or salvage lymphadenectomy is discussed. Expert opinion RGS provided satisfying preliminary results in both primary and salvage lymphadenectomy, allowing to discriminate between pathological and non-pathological nodes with high accuracy, although prospective studies with larger cohorts are needed to further validate this surgical approach. The potential of PSMA-targeted SPECT/CT has not been fully explored yet, but it might represent a relatively cost-effective alternative to PSMA PET/CT in limited resource environments. In this perspective, the implementation of novel SPECT technologies or algorithms, such as semiconductor-ionization detectors or resolution recovery reconstruction, will be topic of future investigation.

Automated summary

PSMA has emerged as an important target for prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy. This study reviews different methods for labeling PSMA ligands with gamma-emitting nuclides and discusses the applications of these tracers in imaging PC patients. The use of PSMA-targeted SPECT tracers in radioguided surgery is also explored. Expert opinion suggests that radioguided surgery has shown promising results and PSMA-targeted SPECT/CT may be a cost-effective alternative to PSMA PET/CT.