Positron Emission Tomography in Prostate Cancer: Summary of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Prostate cancer is a prevalent public health problem worldwide. Over the past decade, there has been tremendous research activity in the potential use of positron emission tomography with a number of radiotracers targeted to various biological aspects of this complex tumor. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are important contributions to the relevant literature that summarize the evidence while reducing the effect of various sources of bias in the published data. The accumulation of relevant data in this clinical setting has recently provided the opportunity for systematic reviews. In this brief article, I summarize the published systematic reviews and meta-analyses of positron emission tomography in prostate cancer. Most robust evidence suggests a probable role for first-line use of positron emission tomography with radiolabeled choline in restating patients with biochemical relapse of prostate cancer with the diagnostic performance that seems to be positively associated with the serum prostate-specific antigen level and velocity. Future systematic reviews will be needed for other emerging radiotracers such as those based on the prostate-specific membrane antigen and gastrin-releasing peptide receptor.