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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

A New Technique for Treating Low-risk Prostate Cancer—Super Active Surveillance
Published on: November 7, 2025
Correlation between PSA kinetics and PSMA-PET in prostate cancer restaging: A meta-analysis
Ricardo Pereira Mestre1, Giorgio Treglia2,3,4,5, Matteo Ferrari6
1Clinic of Medical Oncology, Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
Background:
Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) may predict the risk of positive positron emission tomography/computed tomography with radiolabelled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA-PET/CT) in patients with biochemical recurrent prostate cancer (BRPCa). However, to date, there are no clear data regarding the correlation between PSA kinetics and PSMA-PET findings. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to provide evidence-based data in this setting.
Methods:
A comprehensive literature search of studies published through October 2018 in PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane library databases was performed. A meta-analysis to establish the detection rate (DR) of PSMA-PET using different cut-off values of PSA doubling time (PSAdt) and a pooled analysis to establish whether shorter PSAdt may predict positive PSMA-PET results was performed in patients with BRPCa.
Results:
Twelve articles were included in the systematic review, and eight articles (including about 1400 patients) were selected for the meta-analysis. The pooled DR including 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of PSMA-PET in restaging prostate cancer (PCa) patients was 72% (95%CI:60%-82%), increasing to 83% (95%CI:75%-90%) when PSAdt was ≤6 months and decreasing to 60% (95%CI:37%-80%) when PSAdt was >6 months, without a statistical significant difference. PSAdt ≤6 months may predict the positive result of PSMA-PET (pooled odds ratio: 3.22; 95%CI:1.17-8.88). Statistical heterogeneity among the included studies was found.
Conclusions:
PSA kinetics, and in particular shorter PSAdt, may be predictor of PSMA-PET positivity in patients with BRPCa. Further larger studies in this setting are warranted.
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