BACKGROUND: Circulating-tumor DNA (ctDNA) and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) ligand positron-emission tomography (PET) enable minimal-invasive prostate cancer (PCa) detection and survival prognostication. The present study aims to compare their tumor discovery abilities and prognostic values. METHODS: One hundred thirty men with confirmed PCa (70.5 ± 8.0 years) who underwent [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT (184.8 ± 19.7 MBq) imaging and plasma sample collection (March 2019-August 2021) were included. Plasma-extracted cell-free DNA was subjected to whole-genome-based ctDNA analysis. PSMA-positive tumor lesions were delineated and their quantitative parameters extracted. ctDNA and PSMA PET/CT discovery rates were compared, and the prognostic value for overall survival (OS) was evaluated. RESULTS: PSMA PET discovery rates according to castration status and PSA ranges did differ significantly (P = 0.013, P < 0.001), while ctDNA discovery rates did not (P = 0.311, P = 0.123). ctDNA discovery rates differed between localized and metastatic disease (P = 0.013). Correlations between ctDNA concentrations and PSMA-positive tumor volume (PSMA-TV) were significant in all (r = 0.42, P < 0.001) and castration-resistant (r = 0.65, P < 0.001), however not in hormone-sensitive patients (r = 0.15, P = 0.249). PSMA-TV and ctDNA levels were associated with survival outcomes in the Logrank (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001) and multivariate Cox regression analysis (P = 0.0023, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that PSMA PET imaging outperforms ctDNA analysis in detecting prostate cancer across the whole spectrum of disease, while both modalities are independently highly prognostic for survival outcomes.

Christian Doppler Laboratory for Applied Metabolomics Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image Guided Therapy Division of Nuclear Medicine Medical University of Vienna Währinger Gürtel 18 20 1090 Vienna Austria

Department of Pathology Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Special Surgery Division of Urology The University of Jordan Amman Jordan

Department of Urology 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department of Urology and Andrology University Hospital Krems Krems Austria

Department of Urology Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas TX USA

Department of Urology Weill Cornell Medical College New York NY USA

Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology Vienna Austria

Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences Krems Austria

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