Since the introduction of68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT for imaging prostate cancer (PC) we have frequently observed mediastinal lymph nodes (LN) showing tracer uptake despite being classified as benign. The aim of this evaluation was to further analyze such LN.
Two patient groups with biphasic68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT at 1 h and 3 h p.i. were included in this retrospective evaluation. Group A (n = 38) included patients without LN metastases, and group B (n = 43) patients with LN metastases of PC. SUV of mediastinal/paraaortal LN of group A (n = 100) were compared to SUV of LN metastases of group B (n = 91). Additionally, 22 randomly selected mediastinal and paraaortal LN of patients without PC were immunohistochemically (IHC) analyzed for PSMA expression.
In group A, 7/38 patients (18.4%) presented with at least one PSMA-positive mediastinal LN at 1 h p.i. and 3/38 (7.9%) positive LN at 3 h p.i. with a SUVmax of 2.3 ± 0.7 at 1 h p.i. (2.0 ± 0.7 at 3 h p.i.). A total of 11 PSMA-positive mediastinal/paraaortal LN were detected in nine patients considering both imaging timing points. SUVmax of LN-metastases was 12.5 ± 13.2 at 1 h p.i. (15.8 ± 17.0 at 3 h p.i.). SUVmax increased clearly (> 10%) between 1 h and 3 h p.i. in 76.9% of the LN metastases, and decreased significantly in 72.7% of the mediastinal/paraaortal LN. By IHC, PSMA-expression was observed in intranodal vascular endothelia of all investigated LN groups and to differing degrees within germinal centers of 15/22 of them (68.1%). Expression was stronger in mediastinal nodes (p = 0.038) and when follicular hyperplasia was present (p = 0.050).
PSMA-positive mediastinal/paraaortal benign LN were visible in a notable proportion of patients. PSMA-positivity on the histopathological level was associated with the activation state of the LN. However, in contrast to LN metastases of PC, they presented with significantly lower uptake, which, in addition, usually decreased over time.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 February 2023.
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Altmetric has tracked 34,457,357 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
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