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A prostate-cancer-specific PET scan that finds spread far earlier than CT or bone scan, and tells you whether a matched radioactive drug will work.
PSMA PET uses small-molecule urea-based ligands that bind the active site of prostate-specific membrane antigen and are internalised, labelled with 68Ga or 18F. Approved agents are 68Ga-PSMA-11 (Illuccix, Locametz), 18F-DCFPyL (Pylarify, with Pylarify TruVu approved in March 2026) and 18F-rhPSMA-7.3 (Posluma). In clinical use since 2020, it is standard for initial staging of high-risk disease and for biochemical recurrence, where it detects disease at PSA below 0.5 ng/mL, far earlier than CT or bone scan. It is also the theranostic gatekeeper: a PSMA-positive scan is required to select patients for 177Lu-PSMA-617, as in VISION and PSMAfore. Around 10% of patients have PSMA-negative disease, and uptake in ganglia and salivary glands can be mistaken for tumour. It finds spread early and predicts whether the matched radioactive drug will work.
Small-molecule urea-based ligands bind PSMA's active site and are internalised.
Nothing in the corpus depends on this yet.
Dependencies are what this technology cannot be delivered without: manufacturing steps, instruments, software, upstream methods. See its full chain on the map.
177Lu-PSMA-I&T is a second PSMA radioligand, chemically different from Pluvicto, that has passed two phase 3 trials on progression but has not yet shown a survival benefit.
Choline C-11 was the first PET tracer approved in the United States, in 2012, to find where prostate cancer has come back when PSA rises after treatment; PSMA tracers have now largely replaced it.
Florastamin is FutureChem's fluorine-18 PSMA PET tracer from South Korea, in phase 3 trials for staging high-risk and recurrent prostate cancer alongside the established PSMA agents.
Flotufolastat is a third PSMA PET tracer, with a radiohybrid chemistry designed to be reused for therapy.
Gallium-68 PSMA-11 was the first PSMA PET tracer approved in the US (2020), and is made on site from a generator or cyclotron.
Telix's ready-to-label kit that lets any nuclear medicine department make the gallium PSMA scan for prostate cancer.
Novartis' gallium PSMA scan kit, approved the same day as Pluvicto as the test that qualifies men for that radioactive drug.
A radioactive drug that seeks out PSMA on prostate cancer cells; the best-selling radiopharmaceutical ever.
Piflufolastat F-18 (Pylarify) is the leading PSMA PET tracer for prostate cancer, with a new formulation approved in March 2026.
PSMA-1007 is a fluorine-18 PSMA PET tracer from ABX in Germany, widely used in Europe for prostate cancer staging because little of it reaches the bladder, and in a phase 3 trial registered by its maker.
This is the paper Europe PMC returns for registry id NCT03392428 with the most citations, so it is the natural first reading for anyone following the TheraP trial. Read the abstract above alongside the trial page and the registry entry; the record was linked automatically and its figures have not been checked by hand.
This academic programme is what the FDA approved 68Ga-PSMA-11 on in December 2020, and the Illuccix and Locametz kits rest on it for the staging indication. Its message for a man being staged before surgery is that a positive PSMA PET node is very likely real, but a negative scan does not rule out small nodal deposits, so the lymph node dissection still matters.
Men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer that has progressed after hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, and whose tumours show PSMA on a PET scan, can now receive lutetium-PSMA, which extends life, controls pain and is usually better tolerated than further chemotherapy. It has established a new treatment class in which a scan decides who gets the matching radioactive drug, and it is now being tested earlier in the disease (PSMAfore, PSMAddition).
PSMA PET-CT is the preferred staging investigation for high-risk prostate cancer and for biochemical recurrence, though most treatment trials were designed with conventional imaging.
It is the evidence behind using PSMA PET when PSA rises after treatment, and it quantifies the limit that matters most: below PSA 0.5 ng/mL, where salvage radiotherapy works best, the scan is negative in nearly two men in three, so a negative scan is not a reason to wait.
It is the anatomical basis for PSMA imaging and PSMA radioligand therapy, and it predicted two of the practical problems three decades early: salivary, lacrimal and renal uptake as sources of toxicity, and falling expression in dedifferentiated disease as the reason some men are ineligible for treatment.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"PSMA PET" OR ABSTRACT:"PSMA PET" OR TITLE:"PSMA PET/CT" OR ABSTRACT:"PSMA PET/CT" OR TITLE:"68Ga-PSMA" OR ABSTRACT:"68Ga-PSMA" OR TITLE:"18F-DCFPyL" OR ABSTRACT:"18F-DCFPyL"). Results are unfiltered search hits about PSMA PET, not a curated reading list.
Shares Flotufolastat F-18, Accuracy of gallium-68 PSMA-11 PET in localising recurrent prostate cancer: a prospective single-arm clinical trial, Prostate-specific membrane antigen expression in normal and malignant human tissues, proPSMA: PSMA PET-CT versus conventional imaging for staging high-risk prostate cancer.
Shares Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Uwe Haberkorn, Ken Herrmann, When the blood test is positive, hunt for the lesion with sensitive imaging.
Shares Michael J. Morris, A. Oliver Sartor, TheraP (ANZUP 1603), VISION.
Shares Chulabhorn Hospital / Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Ken Herrmann, IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori 'Dino Amadori' (IRST).
Shares Accuracy of gallium-68 PSMA-11 PET in localising recurrent prostate cancer: a prospective single-arm clinical trial, ORIOLE, Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), PSA kinetics: PSA doubling time and PSA density.
Shares PSMA PET Combined With MRI for the Detection of PCa, Radionuclide generators and cold kits, Gallium-68 gozetotide (PSMA-11), Illuccix (kit for Ga-68 gozetotide).
Shares Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for oligometastatic disease, ORIOLE, PSA kinetics: PSA doubling time and PSA density, Biochemical recurrence (BCR).
Shares Radionuclide generators and cold kits, PET tracer manufacturing and distribution, Radiopharmacy and cyclotron networks, Gamma probes, handheld gamma cameras and dose calibrators.