Showing posts with label nomogram. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nomogram. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Use of mpMRI and PSMA PET/CT to aid in salvage radiation decision-making

Because the success or failure of salvage radiation (SRT) hinges upon whether micrometastases are already systemic at the time of treatment, evidence that the cancer is still local improves the odds that SRT will be successful.. One way of finding local tumors is to use multiparametric MRI (mpMRI). mpMRI can detect tumors down to about a limit of 4 mm, and may be able to find tumors even when their PSA output is low.

Sharma et al. at the Mayo Clinic retrospectively examined the records of 473 men who were treated with SRT and who had an mpMRI prior to treatment from 2003 to 2013. Among men with a pre-treatment PSA ≤ 0.5 ng/ml, 5-year biochemical failure was:

  • 39% among those with a negative mpMRI
  • 12% among those with a positive mpMRI

Adding mpMRI to the updated Stephenson nomogram (see this link) increased its predictive accuracy for PSA recurrence after SRT from 71% to 77%. Perhaps its accuracy would increase even further if the MRI was confirmed by a biopsy of the suspicious tissue to eliminate any false positives.

Like the detection of a positive margin in post-prostatectomy pathology, detection of a local tumor using mpMRI increases the probability that SRT will be successful. Although the radiation dose to the suspicious lesion can be boosted (see this link), it is unknown whether such a boost actually increases efficacy when the entire prostate bed is adequately treated. It is also unknown what effect it might have on toxicity. Moreover, it is hard to argue for a reduced dose elsewhere in the prostate bed because of the known limitation of mpMRI in detecting smaller tumors, and the multi-focal nature of prostate cancer spreading.


Emmett et al. at St. Vincent Hospital in Sydney performed a Ga-68-PSMA-11 PET/CT on 164 men with rising PSA (PSA range: 0.05-1.0 ng/ml) after prostatectomy who received SRT. After eliminating patients who also had systemic therapy, there were 140 evaluable patients. They had a pre-SRT PSA of 0.23 (interquartile range 0.14-0.35).  As expected, detection rates went up with increasing PSA;

  • <0.2 ng/ml: 50%
  • 0.20-0.29 ng/ml: 64%
  • 0.30-0.39 ng/ml: 67%
  • ≥0.40 ng/ml: 81% 
They only had 10.5 months of median follow-up, and defined a favorable PSA response to SRT as a decrease of at least 50% in PSA and a PSA ≤ 0.1 ng/ml (those receiving adjuvant ADT were eliminated from the follow-up PSA-response analysis). The results should be interpreted with caution because of the very short follow up and low sample sizes. A short-term PSA response only indicates local control, and may not endure if systemic micrometastases were present.

PET/CT was negative in 38% (62/164). 45% of those men (27/60) had SRT to the prostate bed, and 7/27 had SRT to the pelvic lymph nodes field too. In the "negative" detection group, 86% had a favorable PSA response to SRT. Unfortunately, more than half of the PET-negative men never received SRT. This should serve as a caution against over-reliance on PET/CT. PET/CT is not good at detecting micrometastases in the prostate bed. The prostate bed is also a difficult place to detect PSMA-avid cancer because of masking from urinary excretion. We also know little about the natural history of PSMA development in prostate cancer -- it  may very well be that earlier forms of the cancer that may not express PSMA may be most vulnerable to SRT. SRT should never be withheld from an area based solely on negative PSMA findings.

PET/CT was positive in the prostate bed only in 23% (38/164). All of them had SRT to the prostate bed, and 17/36 had SRT to the pelvic lymph node field too. In the "prostate-bed only" detection group, 81% had a favorable PSA response to SRT. Recent evidence indicates that pelvic lymph node SRT increases effectiveness (see this link). Radiation of the pelvic lymph nodes should be considered in spite of negative nodal PSMA findings.

PET/CT was positive in pelvic lymph nodes in 25% (41/164). 87% (26/30) of them had SRT to the prostate bed and to the targeted pelvic lymph nodes. In the "pelvic lymph node" detection group, 61.5% had a favorable PSA response to SRT. The entire pelvic lymph node field and not just isolated lymph nodes should receive SRT for the reasons stated above.

PET/CT was positive for distant metastases in 14% (23/164). Nevertheless, 60% (10/15) of them had SRT to the prostate bed (and, I suppose, to the entire pelvic lymph node field), and 6/10 had metastasis-directed SBRT too. In the "distant metastasis" detection group, only 30% had a favorable PSA response to SRT. Only 1 of the 6 who had metastasis-directed SBRT had a favorable PSA response. When there are known distant metastases, treatment of the prostate bed, pelvic lymph nodes, and of metastases remains a controversial treatment.

The PET/CT was a better predictor of SRT response than PSA, Gleason score, stage, or surgical margin status. The most valuable finding of this small, short-term analysis was that metastases can sometimes be detected at fairly low PSA (as low as 0.1 ng/ml), and it may be possible to rule out SRT in those cases. Conversely, when distant metastases cannot be detected, SRT success rates may be very good.

We will require longer follow-up, larger sample size, prospective studies to establish the utility of mpMRI and PSMA PET/CT in SRT decision making. The two imaging techniques are complementary - the MRI is not as PSA-dependent and is not masked by the urinary excretion of the radiotracer, while the PET scan is highly specific for cancer. Both are useless in detecting tumors with a dimension smaller than 4 mm, so it would be a mistake to think that what is detected is all there is.






Monday, September 12, 2016

Most of the recurrences after primary radiation failure are salvageable

Salvage therapy is curative in about half of men who have a biochemical failure after primary therapy. That's true whether the primary therapy was surgery or radiation. It's true when the salvage therapy was radiation after surgery. And it's true whether the salvage therapy was surgery, cryotherapy, or brachytherapy after radiation. Salvage success rates can be as high as 3 in 4, in certain well-selected patients treated with appropriate therapies (see this link, for example), but it can be a lot lower too. Salvage therapy always increases the complications over what they were for the primary therapy, so we would avoid it if we knew it was likely to be futile. Thanks to the new generation of PET scans, we are beginning to understand why, and what we may be able to do to improve those odds.

For any salvage therapy to be effective, two conditions must be met:
  1.  The recurrence must be local. Local means in the prostate, seminal vesicles, the prostate bed, nearby organs (e.g., bladder, rectum, etc.), and/or in the pelvic lymph nodes.
  2.  The recurrence must not be distant. Distant means metastases in the bones; remote organs like the lungs, liver, or remote lymph nodes; or in systemic circulation in the bloodstream.
In the past, it has been difficult to ascertain that both conditions were met. Bone scans are not very reliable when the PSA is below 20 ng/ml, and they are not specific for metastases. Moreover, by the time the PSA increases that much, the cancer is almost certainly distant and incurable. The NaF18 PET/CT scan can detect metastases sometimes at a PSA as low as 4 ng/ml, but it only detects bone metastases, and it is not specific for metastases. An Ultra-Small Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide (USPIO) MRI may sometimes detect metastases, but only in lymph nodes.  A multiparametric MRI may sometimes detect local recurrences, and may be used to target areas for biopsy in the prostate and prostate bed. It may be reliable after primary radiation (see this link). However, it tells us nothing about distant metastases.  CT scans only detect the larger lesions that may be suspect. A transperineal template mapping biopsy may detect prostate cancer in the prostate, but tells us nothing about distant metastases. It should be noted that biopsied prostate tissue looks very different after radiation, and it should be analyzed by highly experienced pathologists.

Clinical trials have proved that adjuvant radiation after prostatectomy has better outcomes than waiting, and recent studies suggest that overtreatment may be avoided by using early salvage radiation rather than adjuvant radiation therapy. Perhaps early salvage therapy after primary radiation therapy may have improved outcomes too. That is, it may be more successful if started before the patient's PSA reaches the nadir+2 level, which is the official definition of biochemical recurrence after primary radiation therapy.

The FDA-approved C-11 Choline PET/CT (or the similar C-11 Acetate PET/CT) fills some of the critical information gaps. It can detect prostate cancer in the radiation-treated prostate, the local area, and throughout the entire body at a PSA as low as 2 ng/ml, especially if the PSA has been rapidly rising. However, its sensitivity is not very good for small sites of cancer (they must be larger than 5mm), or cancer in lymph nodes. And when used to detect cancer within the prostate, prostatitis and BPH may generate false positives. Some of the new experimental PET scans (e.g., DCFPyL) may be more sensitive. Now that we have an adequate tool for detecting both of the above-mentioned conditions (local and not distant), we are beginning to be able to select which recurrences can be cured with salvage therapy, and which can only be managed with lifelong hormone therapy.

Parker et al. report on the Mayo Clinic experience with 184 patients with rising PSAs after primary radiation therapy on whom the C-11 Choline PET/CT was used to detect local and/or distant prostate cancer progression.

  • 87% of patients were PET-positive.
  • The C-11 Choline PET/CT correctly identified 98% of patients who were later found to have residual prostate cancer on subsequent histological analysis. 
  • However, 42% of patients that were identified as negative by the C-11 Choline PET scan later suffered from cancer progression - they were false negatives.
  • Patients were especially likely to be PET-positive if they had higher pretreatment PSA, were high risk, had higher PSA level at the time of the PET scan, had a greater increase from nadir PSA, had a shorter PSA doubling time, and had a higher PSA velocity. All of those with PSA≥ 10 ng/ml were PET-positive.
  • Risk category, PSA increase from nadir, and time since primary radiation therapy were independently associated with PET-positivity, and can help predict when recurrences are salvageable.
  • 59% of PET-positive patients were confirmed by histological analysis (either biopsy or salvage prostatectomy). 76% were confirmed by a multiparametric MRI.
  • 46% of those who were PET-positive had cancer only in the prostate and seminal vesicles. These patients were potentially salvageable with any of the salvage therapies mentioned above.
  • An additional 16% (62% in total) had cancer in the soft tissue pelvic region. These may be salvageable with extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND) or radiation in select areas of the pelvis that were not treated originally.
  • While only a few patients (21) had a PET scan before their PSA reached nadir+2, half of them had a local recurrence only, and are potentially salvageable. This suggests that the  patient does not have to wait for nadir+2. However on this small sample, the salvageability does not seem to be very different for those who detect it earlier.
This study confirms the findings of the larger study at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSKCC) (reviewed at this link).  In that study, 55% had a recurrence in the prostate and/or seminal vesicles only, compared to 46% at Mayo. At MSKCC, an additional 8% had recurrences in the pelvic lymph nodes only, compared to 16% at Mayo. There were important differences between the studies. At Mayo, unlike MSKCC, patients may have had brachytherapy as all or part of their primary therapy, they may have had enlarged lymph nodes from the start, they had significantly lower doses of radiation (76 Gy vs ~80 Gy), they were younger (65 vs 69), fewer had adjuvant hormone therapy (30% vs 54%), they all had rising PSA but not necessarily nadir+2, and they all received a C-11 Choline PET/CT, there was less histological confirmation (59% vs 71%), and the median follow-up time was shorter (68 months vs 83 months).

As noted in the commentary of the MSKCC study, these findings may not apply when the primary therapy used a very high biologically effective radiation dose, such as with brachy boost therapy, SBRT, or high dose rate brachytherapy.

It makes sense to rule out the possibility of distant metastases using an advanced PET scan. Even at a cost of $2,500 or so, it may save the patient much more than that for the cost of salvage therapy. However, unless the PET scan is done at Mayo using C-11 Choline, is done as part of the clinical trial using the newly FDA-approved PET indicator fluciclovine, or is one of the free ones at NIH, the out-of-pocket cost may be formidable. Hopefully, the FDA will approve more of them, and availability will expand. Unfortunately for those considering early salvage after a prostatectomy failure, none of them are accurate for PSAs that low (≤0.2 ng/ml).

The authors constructed a nomogram to help the prospective patient predict whether his recurrence, detected with a C-11 Choline PET/CT, is likely to be a salvageable recurrence or unsalvageable recurrence. In the first table, fill in the number of points that comes closest to your situation, and add them up. In the second table, look up the probability of a distant recurrence (unsalvageable) that comes closest to your total number of points.



Risk Factor
Points to assign
My Points
PSA increase from nadir
2 ng/ml: 13
5 ng/ml: 32
10 ng/ml: 63
15 ng/ml: 95

Years since RT
1 yr: 100
2 yrs: 95
3 yrs: 90
5 yrs: 80
10 yrs: 52
20 yrs: 0

Risk Group
Low: 0
Intermediate: 8
High: 45


TOTAL




My Total
Points
Probability of recurrence outside of the pelvic area
66
5%
88
10%
120
25%
153
50%
185
75%
216
90%
240
95%

This nomogram outperformed using a PSA threshold alone in its predictive power, and may help the patient decide whether potentially-curative salvage therapy or lifelong hormone therapy is the better course of action.

I'm not sure why radiation dose was not significantly correlated with the site of recurrence at Mayo (p = 0.1) as it was in the MSKCC study. In fact at MSKCC, those who received doses of at least 79.2 Gy had half the rate of recurrence compared to those who only received 75.6 Gy (which seemed to be the norm at Mayo). It may be that those who were treated at Mayo only received higher doses when their cancer was already systemic. We know that this is on the steep part of the dose/response curve where even a small increase in dose can increase its effectiveness greatly. Whatever the reason for the data discrepancy, higher doses do prevent local recurrences.

(update 11/18/2018) Hayman et al. reported on 49 men who had a biochemical recurrence after whole pelvic primary radiation therapy and long-term ADT who were clinically staged as node positive (N1) via MRI. Using imaging (probably a PET/CT scan) they found the site(s) of recurrence in 46 of the men:

  • 25 (54%) had a recurrence in the prostate only
  • None had a recurrence in lymph nodes only
  • 21 (46%) had a recurrence that included a distant metastasis

This is very similar to Mayo and MSK.



note: Thanks to Dr. Will Parker for letting me review the full text of his published study.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Probability of remaining recurrence-free after salvage radiation

In 2007, Stephenson et al. published a nomogram that predicted the probability of success of salvage radiation after post-prostatectomy biochemical failure. Biochemical failure was defined as a PSA≥0.2 ng/ml. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has made the nomogram publicly available at this link. But that data was put together before ultrasensitive PSA tests became widely available, and before three randomized clinical trials demonstrated an advantage to adjuvant radiation over waiting. Several studies now suggest (see this link) that early salvage may provide the same benefit as adjuvant radiation therapy, but with less risk of overtreatment.

Tendulkar et al. have now updated the Stephenson nomogram.. The original nomogram was based on 1,540 patients treated between 1987 and 2005 at 17 tertiary care facilities. All patients had a confirmed PSA ≥0.2 ng/ml before SRT. Outcomes were based on 6-year progression-free probability after SRT. The updated nomogram is based on 2,460 patients treated between 1987 and 2013 at 10 academic medical centers. It included post-op ultrasensitive PSA test results for some (18 percent) of the patients, but only 18 patients were treated at a PSA≤0.05 ng/ml. The nomogram predicts 5- and 10-year probability of freedom from biochemical failure (PSA≥0.2 ng/ml) after SRT. The authors also constructed a nomogram that predicts 5- and 10-year probability of incidence of metastasis. Their model has a predictive accuracy of about 68 percent for freedom from biochemical failure, and 74 percent for incidence of metastasis.

Update (3/27/2018): Cleveland Clinic now has a more convenient online version of this nomogram on their website:
http://riskcalc.org/ProstateCancerAfterRadicalProstatectomyNew/

The tables below approximate the nomogram for predicting the 10-year probability of remaining free of biochemical failure after SRT treatment.


Risk Factor
Score (points)
Points
ADT
Yes: 0      No: 49

Gleason score
6: 0      7: 54        8: 70        9/10: 90

Extraprostatic Extension
No:0        Yes:22

Surgical Margins
Positive: 0         Negative: 27

Seminal Vesicle Invasion
No: 0      Yes: 24

Pre-RT PSA (ng/ml)
0.05: 2.5    0.1: 5   0.2:10    0.3: 15        0.5: 25     1.0: 50   1.5: 75

Radiation dose (Gy)
≥66 Gy: 0   <66 Gy: 17

Total points




Total points
Probability
100
70%
150
50%
195
30%
220
20%
245
10%
265
  5%

As an example, take the case of a man who, after his prostatectomy, had a Gleason score of 9 (=90 points), seminal vesicle invasion (=24 points), margins were negative (=27 points), PSA before SRT was 0.5 ng/ml (=25 points), and his radiation oncologist plans on treating him with a dose of 65 Gy (=17 points) without ADT(=49 points). His total score is 90+24+27+25+17+49= 232. This corresponds to about a 15% probability of success. The doctor and his patient probably would not consider this SRT treatment, given the risk of adverse side effects.

Now, let’s suppose the same man is treated earlier when his PSA is only 0.05 ng/ml (2.5 points) and his radiation oncologist proposes a dose of 70 Gy (=0 points) with ADT beginning two months before SRT (=0 points). His total score is 90+24+27+2.5+0+0= 143.5. This corresponds to about a 55% probability of success. This SRT treatment is a lot more tempting.


Because of database limitations, they could not incorporate PSA doubling time or increases in their model. They also could not include the duration of ADT use or more precise radiation dosage. With more data, a genomic classifier (Decipher®) also might improve the predictive accuracy of their model. Together with other factors like co-morbidities, risk of adverse effects and life expectancy, this nomogram should prove useful in helping the patient and doctor decide whether SRT is worthwhile.


Note: Thanks to Dr. Rahul Tendulkar for providing me with the full text of his original article.