Relationship between prostatic fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, prostatic calcifications, and urologic symptom...

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiology

Background:

• Urological symptom questionnaires are crucial for assessing conditions like chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
• The role of incidental findings on fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) in relation to these symptoms is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the clinical utility of FDG PET/CT in assessing urological symptom scores.
• To explore the relationship between incidental prostate FDG uptake, prostatic calcifications (PCs), and urological symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Men undergoing health screening with FDG PET/CT and completing urological symptom questionnaires were analyzed.
• Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, along with Spearman correlation, were used to assess associations between imaging findings and symptom scores, adjusting for clinical parameters.

Main Results:

• Of 368 participants, 104 had prostate FDG uptake or calcifications.
• Both FDG uptake and prostatic calcifications were significantly associated with higher scores on the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), and quality of life (QoL) measures.
• Strong correlations were found between IPSS/QoL and total CPSI scores.

Conclusions:

• Prostate FDG uptake and calcifications detected by FDG PET/CT are strongly linked to increased urological symptoms and diminished quality of life.
• FDG PET/CT can offer valuable supplementary information for evaluating latent urinary tract symptoms and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.