PSMA PET/CT for Radiation Planning and Response Assessment in Intracranial High-Grade Gliomas
Rituraj Upadhyay, Pavnesh Kumar, Divya Yadav, Bingfeng Tang, Erika Bello-Pardo, Hamid Mohtashami, Pawan Singh, Pierre Giglio, Kyle C Wu, J Brad Elder, Sasha Beyer, Raj Singh, Raju R Raval, Evan M Thomas, Chi Zhang, Jana Ivanidze, Joshua D PalmerLay Summary
Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer, and it can be difficult to tell whether changes seen on scans after radiation treatment represent tumor growth or treatment-related effects. The authors of this study wanted to evaluate whether a specialized imaging test called PSMA PET could help define tumor boundaries for radiation planning and distinguish tumor progression from treatment-related changes. To do this, they performed PSMA PET scans in 27 patients with high-grade gliomas, including patients undergoing radiation planning and patients being evaluated for possible tumor recurrence. They found that tumors showed higher PSMA PET signal than surrounding tissue, that PSMA PET sometimes identified tumor beyond what was visible on standard MRI, and that it correctly distinguished tumor progression from treatment-related changes in most patients.