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Updated: Aug 22, 2025
Non-Invasive PET/MR Imaging in an Orthotopic Mouse Model of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Published on: August 31, 2022
Can PSMA-Targeting Radiopharmaceuticals Be Useful for Detecting Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Positron Emission
Alessio Rizzo1, Manuela Racca1, Domenico Albano2
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO-IRCCS, 10060 Turin, Italy.
Background:
Several studies proposed the use of positron emission tomography (PET) with Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)-targeting radiopharmaceuticals in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our aim is to calculate the detection rate (DR) of this examination in HCC with a meta-analysis.
Methods:
A comprehensive literature search of studies on the DR of PET/CT or PET/MRI with PSMA-targeting radiopharmaceuticals in HCC was performed. Original articles evaluating these imaging examinations both in newly diagnosed HCC patients and HCC patients with disease relapse were included. Pooled DR including 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) was calculated. Statistical heterogeneity was also assessed using the I2 test.
Results:
The meta-analysis of six selected studies (126 patients) provided a DR of 85.9% for PET imaging with PSMA-targeting radiopharmaceuticals in the diagnosis of HCC. Moderate statistical heterogeneity among the included studies was found (I2 = 56%).
Conclusions:
The quantitative data provided demonstrate the high DR of PET/CT or PET/MRI with PSMA-targeting radiopharmaceuticals for HCC lesion detection. However, more studies are needed to confirm the promising role of PSMA-targeted PET in HCC.
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