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Metastasis-Free Survival and Patterns of Distant Metastatic Disease After Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography (PSMA-PET)-Guided Salvage Radiation Therapy in Recurrent or Persistent Prostate Cancer After Prostatectomy

  • Constantinos Zamboglou
  • , Iosif Strouthos
  • , Joerg Sahlmann
  • , Andrea Farolfi
  • , Francesca Serani
  • , Federica Medici
  • , Letizia Cavallini
  • , Alessio Guiseppe Morganti
  • , Christian Trapp
  • , Stefan A. Koerber
  • , Jan C. Peeken
  • , Marco M.E. Vogel
  • , Kilian Schiller
  • , Stephanie E. Combs
  • , Matthias Eiber
  • , Alexis Vrachimis
  • , Konstantinos Ferentinos
  • , Simon K.B. Spohn
  • , Simon Kirste
  • , Christian Gratzke
  • Juri Ruf, Anca Ligia Grosu, Francesco Ceci, Wolfgang P. Fendler, Jonathan Miksch, Stephanie Kroeze, Matthias Guckenberger, Helena Lanzafame, Stefano Fanti, George Hruby, Thomas Wiegel, Louise Emmett, Nina Sophie Schmidt-Hegemann, Christoph Henkenberens

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Purpose: Prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (PSMA-PET) is increasingly used to guide salvage radiation therapy (sRT) in patients with prostate cancer and biochemical recurrence/persistence after prostatectomy. This work examined (1) metastasis-free survival (MFS) after PSMA-PET guided sRT and (2) the metastatic patterns on PSMA-PET images after sRT. Methods and Materials: This retrospective, multicenter (9 centers, 5 countries) study included patients referred for PSMA-PET due to recurrent/persistent disease after prostatectomy. Patients with distant metastases (DM) on PSMA-PET before sRT were excluded. Cox regression was performed to assess the effect of clinical parameters on MFS. The distribution of PSMA-PET detected DM after sRT and their respective risk factors were analyzed. Results: All (n = 815) patients received intensity modulated RT to the prostatic fossa. In the case of PET-positive pelvic lymph nodes (PLN-PET) (n = 275, 34%), pelvic lymphatics had been irradiated. Androgen deprivation therapy had been given in 251 (31%) patients. The median follow-up after sRT was 36 months. The 2-/4-year MFS after sRT were 93%/81%. In multivariate analysis, the presence of PLN-PET was a strong predictor for MFS (hazard ratio, 2.39; P <.001). After sRT, DM were detected by PSMA-PET in 128/198 (65%) patients, and 2 metastatic patterns were observed: 43% had DM in sub-diaphragmatic para-aortic LNs (abdominal-lymphatic), 45% in bones, 9% in supra-diaphragmatic LNs, and 6% in visceral organs (distant). Two distinct signatures with risk factors for each pattern were identified. Conclusions: MFS in our study is lower compared with previous studies, obviously due to the higher detection rate of DM in PSMA-PET after sRT. Thus, it remains unclear whether MFS is a surrogate endpoint for overall survival in PSMA PET-staged patients in the post-sRT setting. PLN-PET may be proposed as a new surrogate parameter predictive of MFS. Analysis of recurrence patterns in PET after sRT revealed risk factor signatures for 2 metastatic patterns (abdominal-lymphatic and distant), which may allow individualized sRT concepts in the future.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1015-1024
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics
Volume113
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2022
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiation
  • Oncology
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Cancer Research

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