Evaluation of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA PET/CT images acquired with a reduced scan time duration in prostate cancer patients using the digital biograph vision

Staging of prostate Cancer with ultra-fast PSMA-PET scans enhanced by AI

PURPOSE

PSMA-PET is a reference standard examination for patients with prostate cancer, but even using recently introduced digital PET detectors image acquisition with standard field-of-view scanners is still in the range of 20 min. This may cause limited access to examination slots because of the growing demand for PSMA-PET. Ultra-fast PSMA-PET may enhance throughput but comes at the cost of poor image quality. The aim of this manuscript is to evaluate the accuracy of AI-enhanced ultra-fast PSMA-PET for staging of patients with prostate cancer.

METHODS

A total number of 357 whole-body [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET datasets were included. Patients underwent two digital PET scans, one at standard and one at ultra-fast speed (table speed: 0.6-1.2 mm/s vs. 50 mm/s). A modified pix2pixHD generative adversarial network to enhance the ultra-fast images was trained with 286 datasets and evaluated with the remaining 71 datasets. The staging accuracy of ultra-fast PSMA-PET and AI-enhanced ultra-fast PET was compared with the reference standard PET separately for miTNM regions proposed by PROMISE V2.0.

RESULTS

The AI-network significantly improved the visual image quality and detection rate in most miTNM regions compared with the non-enhanced image data (T: 69.6% vs. 43.5%, p < 0.05; N: 46.3% vs. 27.8%, p < 0.01; M1a 64.4% vs. 47.5%, p < 0.01; M1b: 85.7% vs. 72.1%, p < 0.01). However, improvement was not significant for the M1c category (42.9 vs. 28.6%, p > 0.05). Missed lesions had a smaller SUVmax and lesion size compared with detected lesions (exemplary for N: 9.5 vs. 26.5 SUVmax; 4 vs. 10 mm). SUVmax values of lesions were significantly different in all miTNM regions between the ultra-fast and reference standard PET, but only in the T-region between the AI-enhanced and reference standard PET.

CONCLUSION

The AI-based image enhancement improved image quality and region detection rates by a mean of 17.9%. As the sensitivity of synthetic PET for small and low-uptake lesions was limited, a potential clinical use case could be disease monitoring in patients with high tumor volume and PSMA uptake undergoing PSMA radioligand therapy. The improvement in detection rate of distant metastases was not significant. This indicates that more training data is needed to ensure robust results also for lesions that have lower appearance frequency. Future studies on accelerated PSMA-PET seem warranted.

Theranostics with somatostatin receptor antagonists in SCLC: Correlation of 68Ga-SSO120 PET with immunohistochemistry and survival

Rationale: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using the somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2)-antagonist satoreotide trizoxetan (68Ga-SSO120) is a novel, promising imaging modality for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), which holds potential for theranostic applications. This study aims to correlate uptake in PET imaging with SSTR2 expression in immunohistochemistry (IHC) and to assess the prognostic value of 68Ga-SSO120 PET at initial staging of patients with SCLC. Methods: We analyzed patients who underwent 68Ga-SSO120 PET/CT during initial diagnostic workup of SCLC as part of institutional standard-of-care. SSTR2 expression in IHC was evaluated on a 4-level scale and correlated with normalized standardized uptake values and tumor-to-liver ratios (SUVmax and TLRpeak) in 68Ga-SSO120 PET on a lesion level. Highest lesion SUVmax/TLRpeak per patient, SSTR2 score in IHC, M status according to TNM classification, and other parameters were analyzed for association with overall survival (OS) and time to treatment failure (TTF) by univariate, multivariate (cut-off values were identified on data for best separation), and stratified Cox regression. Results: We included 54 patients (24 men/30 women, median age 65 years, 21 M0/33 M1 according to TNM classification). In 43 patients with available surplus tumor tissue samples, hottest lesion SUVmax/TLRpeak showed a significant correlation with the level of SSTR2-expression by tumor cells in IHC (Spearman's rho 0.86/0.81, both p < 0.001; ANOVA p < 0.001). High SSTR2 expression in IHC, 68Ga-SSO120 SUVmax and TLRpeak of the hottest lesion per patient, whole-body TLRmean, MTV, TLG, M status, and serum LDH showed a significant association with inferior TTF/OS in univariate analysis. In separate multivariate Cox regression (including sex, age, M stage, and LDH) higher hottest-lesion TLRpeak showed a significant association with shorter OS (HR = 0.26, 95%CI: 0.08-0.84, p = 0.02) and SSTR2 expression in IHC with significantly shorter TTF (HR = 0.24, 95%CI: 0.08-0.71, p = 0.001) and OS (HR = 0.22, 95%CI: 0.06-0.84, p = 0.03). In total, 12 patients (22.2%) showed low (< 1), 21 (38.9%) intermediate (≥ 1 but < 2), 14 (25.9%) high (≥ 2 but < 5), and 7 (13.0%) very high (≥ 5) whole-body mean TLRmean. Conclusion: In patients with SCLC, SSTR2 expression assessed by 68Ga-SSO120 PET and by IHC were closely correlated and associated with shorter survival. More than 75% of patients showed higher whole-body 68Ga-SSO120 tumor uptake than liver uptake and almost 40% high or very high uptake, possibly paving the way towards theranostic applications.

PSMA-PET follow-up to assess response in patients not receiving PSMA therapy: Is there value beyond localization of disease?

Introduction: Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography (PSMA-PET) is routinely used for the staging of patients with prostate cancer, but data on response assessment are sparse and primarily stem from metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients treated with PSMA radioligand therapy. Still, follow-up PSMA-PET is employed in earlier disease stages in case of clinical suspicion of disease persistence, recurrence or progression to decide if localized or systemic treatment is indicated. Therefore, the prognostic value of PSMA-PET derived tumor volumes in earlier disease stages (i.e., hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC) and non-[177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 (LuPSMA) therapy castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)) are evaluated in this manuscript. Methods: A total number of 73 patients (6 primary staging, 42 HSPC, 25 CRPC) underwent two (i.e., baseline and follow-up, median interval: 379 days) whole-body [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT scans between Nov 2014 and Dec 2018. Analysis was restricted to non-LuPSMA therapy patients. PSMA-PETs were retrospectively analyzed and primary tumor, lymph node-, visceral-, and bone metastases were segmented. Body weight-adjusted organ-specific and total tumor volumes (PSMAvol: sum of PET volumes of all lesions) were measured for baseline and follow-up. PSMAvol response was calculated as the absolute difference of whole-body tumor volumes. High metastatic burden (>5 metastases), RECIP 1.0 and PSMA-PET Progression Criteria (PPP) were determined. Survival data were sourced from the cancer registry. Results: The average number of tumor lesions per patient on the initial PET examination was 10.3 (SD 28.4). At baseline, PSMAvol was strongly associated with OS (HR 3.92, p <0.001; n = 73). Likewise, response in PSMAvol was significantly associated with OS (HR 10.48, p < 0.005; n = 73). PPP achieved significance as well (HR 2.19, p <0.05, n = 73). Patients with hormone sensitive disease and poor PSMAvol response (upper quartile of PSMAvol change) in follow-up had shorter outcome (p < 0.05; n = 42). PSMAvol in bones was the most relevant parameter for OS prognostication at baseline and for response assessment (HR 31.11 p < 0.001; HR 32.27, p < 0.001; n = 73). Conclusion: PPP and response in PSMAvol were significantly associated with OS in the present heterogeneous cohort. Bone tumor volume was the relevant miTNM region for OS prognostication. Future prospective evaluation of the performance of organ specific PSMAvol in more homogeneous cohorts seems warranted.

Quantification performance of silicon photomultiplier-based PET for small 18F-, 68Ga- and 124I-avid lesions in the context of radionuclide therapy planning

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to investigate conditions for reliable quantification of sub-centimeter lesions with low18F,68Ga, and124I uptake using a silicon photomultiplier-based PET/CT system.

METHODS

A small tumor phantom was investigated under challenging but clinically realistic conditions resembling prostate and thyroid cancer lymph node metastases (6 spheres with 3.7-9.7 mm in diameter, 9 different activity concentrations ranging from about 0.25-25 kBq/mL, and a signal-to-background ratio of 20). Radionuclides with different positron branching ratios and prompt gamma coincidence contributions were investigated. Maximum-, contour-, and oversize-based partial volume effect (PVE) correction approaches were applied. Detection and quantification performance were estimated, considering a ±30 % deviation between imaged-derived and true activity concentrations as acceptable. A standard and a prolonged acquisition time and two image reconstruction algorithms (time-of-flight with/without point spread function modelling) were analyzed. Clinical data were evaluated to assess agreement of PVE-correction approaches indicating lesion quantification validity.

RESULTS

The smallest 3.7-mm sphere was not visible. If the lesions were clearly observed, quantification was, except for a few cases, acceptable using contour- or oversized-based PVE-corrections. Quantification accuracy did not substantially differ between 18F, 68Ga, and 124I. No systematic differences between the analyzed reconstruction algorithms or shorter and larger acquisition times were observed. In the clinical evaluation of 20 lesions, an excellent statistical agreement between oversize- and contour-based PVE-corrections was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

At the lower end of size (<10 mm) and activity concentration ranges of lymph-node metastases, quantification with reasonable accuracy is possible for 18F, 68Ga, and 124I, possibly allowing pre-therapeutic lesion dosimetry and individualized radionuclide therapy planning.

68Ga-SSO-120 PET for Initial Staging of Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

PET imaging using the somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) antagonist satoreotide trizoxetan (SSO-120, previously OPS-202) could offer accurate tumor detection and screening for SSTR2-antagonist radionuclide therapy in patients with SSTR2-expressing small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The aim of this single-center study was to investigate tumor uptake and detection rates of 68Ga-SSO-120 in comparison to 18F-FDG PET in the initial staging of SCLC patients. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed SCLC who underwent additional whole-body 68Ga-SSO-120 PET/CT during the initial diagnostic workup were retrospectively included. The mean administered activity was 139 MBq, and the mean uptake time was 60 min. Gold-standard staging 18F-FDG PET/CT was evaluated if available within 2 wk before or after 68Ga-SSO-120 PET if morphologic differences in CT images were absent. 68Ga-SSO-120- or 18F-FDG-positive lesions were reported in 7 anatomic regions (primary tumor, thoracic lymph node metastases, and distant metastases including pleural, contralateral pulmonary, liver, bone, and other) according to the TNM classification for lung cancer (eighth edition). Consensus TNM staging (derived from CT, endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration, PET, and brain MRI) by a clinical tumor board served as the reference standard. Results: Thirty-one patients were included, 12 with limited and 19 with extensive disease according to the Veterans Administration Lung Study Group classification. 68Ga-SSO-120-positive tumor was detected in all patients (100%) and in 90 of the 217 evaluated regions (41.5%). Thirteen patients (42.0%) had intense average 68Ga-SSO-120 uptake (region-based mean SUVmax ≥ 10); 28 patients (90.3%) had average 68Ga-SSO-120 uptake greater than liver uptake (region-based mean peak tumor-to-liver ratio > 1). In 25 patients with evaluable 18F-FDG PET, primary tumor, thoracic lymph node metastases, and distant metastases were detected in 100%, 92%, and 64%, respectively, of all investigated patients by 68Ga-SSO-120 and in 100%, 92%, and 56%, respectively, by 18F-FDG PET. 68Ga-SSO-120 PET detected additional contralateral lymph node, liver, and brain metastases in 1, 1, and 2 patients, respectively (no histopathology available), and 18F-FDG PET detected additional contralateral lymph node metastases in 3 patients (1 confirmed, 1 systematic endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration-negative, and 1 without available histopathology). None of these differences altered Veterans Administration Lung Study Group staging. The region-based monotonic correlation between 68Ga-SSO-120 and 18F-FDG uptake was low (Spearman ρ = 0.26-0.33). Conclusion: 68Ga-SSO-120 PET offers high diagnostic precision with comparable detection rates and additional complementary information to the gold standard, 18F-FDG PET. Consistent uptake in most patients warrants exploration of SSTR2-directed radionuclide therapy.

Lesion Quantification Accuracy of Digital 90Y PET Imaging in the Context of Dosimetry in Systemic Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitor Radionuclide Therapy

Therapy with ⁹⁰Y-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitors (⁹⁰Y-FAPIs) was recently introduced as a novel treatment concept for patients with solid tumors. Lesion and organ-at-risk dosimetry is part of assessing treatment efficacy and safety and requires reliable quantification of tissue uptake. As ⁹⁰Y quantification is limited by the low internal positron-electron pair conversion rate, the increased effective sensitivity of digital silicon photomultiplier-based PET/CT systems might increase quantification accuracy and, consequently, allow for dosimetry in ⁹⁰Y-FAPI therapy. The aim of this study was to explore the conditions for reliable lesion image quantification in ⁹⁰Y-FAPI radionuclide therapy using a digital PET/CT system. Methods: Two tumor phantoms were filled with ⁹⁰Y solution using different sphere activity concentrations and a constant signal-to-background ratio of 40. The minimum detectable activity concentration was determined, and its dependence on acquisition time (15 vs. 30 min per bed position) and smoothing levels (all-pass vs. 5-mm gaussian filter) was investigated. Quantification accuracy was evaluated at various activity concentrations to estimate the minimum quantifiable activity concentration using contour-based and oversized volume-of-interest-based quantification approaches. A ±20% deviation range between image-derived and true activity concentrations was regarded as acceptable. Tumor dosimetry for 3 patients treated with ⁹⁰Y-FAPI is presented to project the phantom results to clinical scenarios. Results: For a lesion size of 40 mm and a clinical acquisition time of 15 min, both minimum detectable and minimum quantifiable activity concentrations were 0.12 MBq/mL. For lesion sizes of greater than or equal to 30 mm, accurate quantification was feasible for detectable lesions. Only for the smallest 10-mm sphere, the minimum detectable and minimum quantifiable activity concentrations differ substantially (0.43 vs. 1.97 MBq/mL). No notable differences between the 2 quantification approaches were observed. For the investigated tumors, absorbed dose estimates with reliable accuracy were achievable. Conclusion: For lesion sizes and activity concentrations that are expected to be observed in patients treated with ⁹⁰Y-FAPI, quantification with reasonable accuracy is possible. Further dosimetry studies are needed to thoroughly investigate the efficacy and safety of ⁹⁰Y-FAPI therapy.

Phantom-based acquisition time and image reconstruction parameter optimisation for oncologic FDG PET/CT examinations using a digital system

Background

New-generation silicon-photomultiplier (SiPM)-based PET/CT systems exhibit an improved lesion detectability and image quality due to a higher detector sensitivity. Consequently, the acquisition time can be reduced while maintaining diagnostic quality. The aim of this study was to determine the lowest ¹⁸F-FDG PET acquisition time without loss of diagnostic information and to optimise image reconstruction parameters (image reconstruction algorithm, number of iterations, voxel size, Gaussian filter) by phantom imaging. Moreover, patient data are evaluated to confirm the phantom results.

Methods

Three phantoms were used: a soft-tissue tumour phantom, a bone-lung tumour phantom, and a resolution phantom. Phantom conditions (lesion sizes from 6.5 mm to 28.8 mm in diameter, lesion activity concentration of 15 kBq/mL, and signal-to-background ratio of 5:1) were derived from patient data. PET data were acquired on an SiPM-based Biograph Vision PET/CT system for 10 min in list-mode format and resampled into time frames from 30 to 300 s in 30-s increments to simulate different acquisition times. Different image reconstructions with varying iterations, voxel sizes, and Gaussian filters were probed. Contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR), maximum, and peak signal were evaluated using the 10-min acquisition time image as reference. A threshold CNR value ≥ 5 and a maximum (peak) deviation of ± 20% were considered acceptable. 20 patient data sets were evaluated regarding lesion quantification as well as agreement and correlation between reduced and full acquisition time standard uptake values (assessed by Pearson correlation coefficient, intraclass correlation coefficient, Bland–Altman analyses, and Krippendorff’s alpha).

Results

An acquisition time of 60 s per bed position yielded acceptable detectability and quantification results for clinically relevant phantom lesions ≥ 9.7 mm in diameter using OSEM-TOF or OSEM-TOF+PSF image reconstruction, a 4-mm Gaussian filter, and a 1.65 × 1.65 x 2.00-mm³ or 3.30 × 3.30 x 3.00-mm³ voxel size. Correlation and agreement of patient lesion quantification between full and reduced acquisition times were excellent.

Conclusion

A threefold reduction in acquisition time is possible. Patients might benefit from more comfortable examinations or reduced radiation exposure, if instead of the acquisition time the applied activity is reduced.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09993-4.

Artificial intelligence guided enhancement of digital PET: scans as fast as CT?

Purpose

Both digital positron emission tomography (PET) detector technologies and artificial intelligence based image post-reconstruction methods allow to reduce the PET acquisition time while maintaining diagnostic quality. The aim of this study was to acquire ultra-low-count fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) ExtremePET images on a digital PET/computed tomography (CT) scanner at an acquisition time comparable to a CT scan and to generate synthetic full-dose PET images using an artificial neural network.

Methods

This is a prospective, single-arm, single-center phase I/II imaging study. A total of 587 patients were included. For each patient, a standard and an ultra-low-count FDG PET/CT scan (whole-body acquisition time about 30 s) were acquired. A modified pix2pixHD deep-learning network was trained employing 387 data sets as training and 200 as test cohort. Three models (PET-only and PET/CT with or without group convolution) were compared. Detectability and quantification were evaluated.

Results

The PET/CT input model with group convolution performed best regarding lesion signal recovery and was selected for detailed evaluation. Synthetic PET images were of high visual image quality; mean absolute lesion SUV_max (maximum standardized uptake value) difference was 1.5. Patient-based sensitivity and specificity for lesion detection were 79% and 100%, respectively. Not-detected lesions were of lower tracer uptake and lesion volume. In a matched-pair comparison, patient-based (lesion-based) detection rate was 89% (78%) for PERCIST (PET response criteria in solid tumors)-measurable and 36% (22%) for non PERCIST-measurable lesions.

Conclusion

Lesion detectability and lesion quantification were promising in the context of extremely fast acquisition times. Possible application scenarios might include re-staging of late-stage cancer patients, in whom assessment of total tumor burden can be of higher relevance than detailed evaluation of small and low-uptake lesions.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00259-022-05901-x.

Shining Damaged Hearts: Immunotherapy-Related Cardiotoxicity in the Spotlight of Nuclear Cardiology

The emerging use of immunotherapies in cancer treatment increases the risk of immunotherapy-related cardiotoxicity. In contrast to conventional chemotherapy, these novel therapies have expanded the forms and presentations of cardiovascular damage to a broad spectrum from asymptomatic changes to fulminant short- and long-term complications in terms of cardiomyopathy, arrythmia, and vascular disease. In cancer patients and, particularly, cancer patients undergoing (immune-)therapy, cardio-oncological monitoring is a complex interplay between pretherapeutic risk assessment, identification of impending cardiotoxicity, and post-therapeutic surveillance. For these purposes, the cardio-oncologist can revert to a broad spectrum of nuclear cardiological diagnostic workup. The most promising commonly used nuclear medicine imaging techniques in relation to immunotherapy will be discussed in this review article with a special focus on the continuous development of highly specific molecular markers and steadily improving methods of image generation. The review closes with an outlook on possible new developments of molecular imaging and advanced image evaluation techniques in this exciting and increasingly growing field of immunotherapy-related cardiotoxicity.