Diagnostic accuracy of 18F Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) PET-CT radiotracers in staging and restaging of high-risk prostate cancer patients and patients with biochemical recurrence: protocol for an overview of reviews

Andrew Dullea; Lydia O'Sullivan; Marie Carrigan; Susan Ahern; Maeve McGarry; Kirsty O'Brien; Patricia Harrington; Kieran A Walsh; Susan M Smith; Máirín Ryan

doi:10.12688/hrbopenres.13801.1

Diagnostic accuracy of ¹⁸F Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) PET-CT radiotracers in staging and restaging of high-risk prostate cancer patients and patients with biochemical recurrence: protocol for an overview of reviews

HRB Open Res. 2023 Sep 20:6:57. doi: 10.12688/hrbopenres.13801.1. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Andrew Dullea^{1

2}, Lydia O'Sullivan^{2

3}, Marie Carrigan², Susan Ahern², Maeve McGarry², Kirsty O'Brien², Patricia Harrington², Kieran A Walsh^{2

4}, Susan M Smith¹, Máirín Ryan^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Discipline of Public Health & Primary Care, School of Medicine, The University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.
² Health Technology Assessment Directorate, Health Information and Quality Authority, Cork, Ireland.
³ Trials Methodology Research Network, College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Galway, Galway, County Galway, Ireland.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, University College Cork, Cork, County Cork, Ireland.
⁵ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, The University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.

Abstract

Background: Correct staging and risk stratification is essential in ensuring prostate cancer patients are offered the most appropriate treatment. Interest has been growing in the use of radiotracers targeting prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), including the use of ¹⁸F-PSMA PET-CT, as part of the primary staging or restaging of prostate cancer. Preliminary scoping identified a number of relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses; however, individually, these each appear to look at only part of the picture. An overview of reviews aims to systematically identify, appraise and synthesise multiple systematic reviews, related to a relevant research question or questions. We present a protocol for an overview of reviews, which aims to collate existing evidence syntheses exploring the diagnostic accuracy of ¹⁸F-PSMA in staging and restaging of prostate cancer. It also aims to highlight evidence gaps in prostate cancer staging or restaging. Methods: This protocol is reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for systematic review protocols (PRISMA-P). The search strategy will be designed in consultation with a librarian. Searches will be performed in Medline (EBSCO), Embase (Ovid), Google Scholar and the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews, supplemented by a targeted grey literature search, forward citation searching and searching reference lists of included reviews. No language or date restrictions will be applied to the eligibility criteria or the search strategy. Title & abstract and full text screening will be performed independently by two reviewers. Data will be extracted by one reviewer and checked in full by a second reviewer. Quality appraisal will be performed using the Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews (ROBIS) tool independently by two reviewers, and results will be narratively synthesised. Conclusions: This overview of reviews may be of interest to healthcare professionals, academics and health policy decision-makers. Registration: OSF (September 7, 2023).

Keywords: PET-CT; PSMA; Systematic Review; justification; overview of reviews; prostate cancer.

Grants and funding

Andrew Dullea received tuition fees from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). This work was conducted as part of the Structured Population health, Policy and Health-services Research Education (SPHeRE) Programme under Grant No. SPHeRE/2022/1.