Earlier pinpointing of prostate cancer recurrence locations after radical prostatectomy means that PSMA PET/CT could help guide salvage radiotherapy, writes the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

“Based on European data, we believe that PSMA PET/CT, an imaging technique that is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is sufficiently sensitive to detect and localize the recurrent prostate cancer early enough to potentially guide salvage radiotherapy,” explains Jeremie Calais, MD, at UCLA. “The first sign of prostate cancer recurrence is a rising PSA. For salvage radiotherapy to be successful, it should be initiated before the PSA rises above 1 ng/mL, and ideally, closer to 0.2 ng/mL or lower.”