An Evaluation of the Diagnostic Accuracy of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 vs. [18F]F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT for Lymph Node Staging in Patient Candidates for Radical Prostatectomy and Lymph Node Dissection: A Single Institutional Analysis

Background/Objectives: This study evaluates and compares the diagnostic accuracy of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and [18F]F-PSMA-1007 for lymph node staging in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) scheduled for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and lymphadenectomy (LND). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed prospectively collected data on patients referred to our hospital from October 2020 to January 2023. We included all patients who underwent [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 or [18F]F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT for primary staging and subsequently had RARP with concomitant LND. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) for lymph nodes (LNs) and the SUV node-to-background ratio were reported. Two different cut-off values for the SUV node-to-background ratio (i.e., ≥2 vs. <2 and ≥15.5 vs. <15.5) were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of both tracers. The first cut-off was empirically chosen, while the second was based on Liu’s method. Results: A total of 156 patients were included (median age: 67 years). Among them, 83 underwent [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and 73 underwent [18F]F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT. Suspicious lymph nodes were identified in 21 patients (13.5%). Pathological nodal involvement (pN1) was confirmed in 25 cases (16%). Of the 21 patients with suspicious pathological lymph nodes on PSMA PET/CT, 9 (42.9%) had positive nodes on the final pathology report. With an SUV node-to-background ratio cut-off of ≥2, [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 showed 37.5% sensitivity (SE) and 98.5% specificity(SP), while [18F]F-PSMA-1007 demonstrated 33.3% SE and 100% SP. Using the ≥15.5 cut-off, SE and SP were 31.3% and 100% for [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and 11.1% and 100% for [18F]F-PSMA-1007, respectively. Conclusions: [18F]F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT showed, even if not statistically significantly, slightly lower SE and higher SP for nodal staging compared to [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT, irrespective of the SUV ratio used.