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Advances in the Use of PET/CT and MRI in Prostate Cancer: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Methods and Technologies Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 121

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Guest Editor
Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Interests: hematology; oncology; meta-analysis; diagnostic imaging
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the second edition of the previous Special Issue entitled “Advances in the Use of PET/CT and MRI in Prostate Cancer”.

The early detection of lymph node and distant organ metastases from prostate cancer at initial staging, especially for restaging when persistence or recurrence is suspected, represents one of the most interesting challenges in modern medicine. The most recent advancements in PET/CT and MRI serve this purpose well, thanks to the development of even higher performing and more specific radiopharmaceuticals for PET/CT imaging, along with the use of multi-parametric MRI, including diffusion-weighted and post-contrast dynamic sequences and spectroscopy. An even earlier definition of overall disease status enables the application of the most correct treatment for the individual patient, with an undeniable impact on prognosis.

This Special Issue, entitled “Advances in the Use of PET/CT and MRI in Prostate Cancer: 2nd Edition”, will focus on the role of the most recent advancements in PET/CT and MRI in the management of patients affected by prostate cancer, for initial staging and restaging purposes. Moreover, the advanced analysis of PET/CT and MRI using radiomics enables the extraction of otherwise concealed information from images, potentially useful for therapeutic and diagnostic management. Finally, PET/CT may act as guidance to provide indications for therapy with novel receptor-targeted radiopharmaceuticals and to assess its effectiveness.

Dr. Carmelo Caldarella
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • PET/CT
  • MRI
  • prostate cancer
  • radiomic
  • receptor-targeted radiopharmaceuticals

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

14 pages, 855 KB  
Review
The Role of PET Tracers in Small-Cell Prostate Cancer (SCPC): An Overview in Clinical and Preclinical Settings
by Flaminia Vocaturo, Silvia Taralli, Valentina Scolozzi, Lucia Leccisotti and Carmelo Caldarella
Cancers 2026, 18(10), 1645; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers18101645 - 20 May 2026
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Small-cell prostate cancer (SCPC) is a rare, aggressive variant of prostate cancer with poor prognosis, arising “de novo” or through lineage plasticity from conventional adenocarcinoma under androgen receptor-targeted therapies. Characterized by low PSA levels despite high tumor burden and visceral metastases, SCPC [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Small-cell prostate cancer (SCPC) is a rare, aggressive variant of prostate cancer with poor prognosis, arising “de novo” or through lineage plasticity from conventional adenocarcinoma under androgen receptor-targeted therapies. Characterized by low PSA levels despite high tumor burden and visceral metastases, SCPC poses diagnostic challenges with conventional and PSMA-targeted imaging due to variable tracer uptake. This narrative review aims to evaluate the role of PET/CT tracers in clinical and preclinical settings for SCPC diagnosis, staging, and management. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed and Scopus up to December 2025 using terms “PET OR positron emission tomography AND prostate OR prostatic AND small-cell NOT non-small-cell”. Eight studies (five clinical, three preclinical) on the role of PET/CT imaging in SCPC were included and analyzed for study design, population, tracers, and findings, with comparative evaluation of diagnostic performance across PET tracers. Results: Clinical studies showed that 11C-choline detects progression at low PSA but misses SCPC; 18F-FDG exhibited a high SUVmax value for distinguishing SCPC from adenocarcinomas with neuroendocrine differentiation, predicting poor survival; 68Ga-DOTATATE identified NEPC/SCPC with promising prognostic/therapeutic value for selected cases. Preclinical models evaluated 89Zr-tracers targeting DLL3 or CDCP1 (an antigen expressed in aggressive neuroendocrine tumours) and 18F-BnTP (a target of mitochondrial activity) in SCPC subtypes, focusing on translational imaging. Conclusions: From this review, although still based on limited literature evidence and mostly derived from retrospective and small SCPC sub-cohorts,18F-FDG PET/CT currently appears as the most reliable tracer for SCPC, aiding tumor detection and prognostication when PSMA/choline imaging fails. In the preclinical setting, DLL3/CDCP1-targeted agents emerge as promising theranostics tools. Multimodal imaging approach and prospective trials are needed for standardization and patient-based SCPC management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Use of PET/CT and MRI in Prostate Cancer: 2nd Edition)
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