title: The Role of C-Choline-PET/CT-Guided Secondary Lymphadenectomy in Patients with PSA Failure after Radical Prostatectomy: Lessons Learned from Eight Cases.
abstract: Introduction. (11)C-choline-PET/CT is a promising technique for detection/restaging of patients with biochemical failure (BF) after curative therapy for prostate cancer (PCA). The aim of this paper was to evaluate the PSA response in patients with BF after radical prostatectomy (RP) who underwent secondary lymphadenectomy (LAD) due to (11)C-choline-PET/CT findings. Material and Methods. Eight patients with BF and positive lymph nodes in (11)C-choline-PET/CT after RP were retrospectively included in the study. Extended LAD until the common iliac arteries was performed in all patients. Results. Six of 8 patients had histologically proven lymph node metastases. Four patients showed an initial PSA reduction after LAD, and in 4 patients the PSA increased. Two of the latter had no histological lymph node metastases. Conclusions. Because 50% of our patients showed an initial PSA response, our data suggest that positive (11)C-choline-PET/CT after RP and BF could help to select patients that could benefit from secondary LAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, General Hospital of Bolzano, Lorenz Böhler Street 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayr
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trenti
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.forename: Evi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Comploj
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pycha
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zywica
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lodde