Surgical evidence-based comparison of [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET and MRI-DWI for assisting debulking surgery in ovarian cancer patients

Purpose Imaging assessment of abdominopelvic tumor burden is crucial for debulking surgery decision in ovarian cancer patients. This study aims to compare the efficiency of [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 FAPI PET and MRI-DWI in the preoperative evaluation and its potential impact to debulking surgery decision. Methods Thirty-six patients with suspected/confirmed ovarian cancer were enrolled and underwent integrated [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/MRI. Nineteen patients (15 stage III–IV and 4 I–II stage) who underwent debulking surgery were involved in the diagnostic efficiency analysis. The images of [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET and MRI-DWI were visually analyzed respectively. Immunohistochemistry on FAP was performed in metastatic lesions to investigate the radiological missing of [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET as well as its different performance in primary debulking surgery (PDS) and interval debulking surgery (IDS) patients. Potential imaging impact on management was also studied in 35 confirmed ovarian cancer patients. Results [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET displayed higher sensitivity (76.8% vs.59.9%), higher accuracy (84.9% vs. 80.7%), and lower missing rate (23.2% vs. 40.1%) than MRI-DWI in detecting abdominopelvic metastasis. The diagnostic superiority of [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET is more obvious in PDS patients but diminished in IDS patients. [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET outperformed MRI-DWI in 70.8% abdominopelvic regions (17/24), which contained seven key regions that impact the resectability and surgical complexity. MRI-DWI hold advantage in the peritoneal surface of the bladder and the central tendon of the diaphragm. Of the contradictory judgments between the two modalities (14.9%), [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET correctly identified more lesions, particularly in PDS patients (73.8%). In addition, FAP expression was independent of lesion size and decreased in IDS patients. [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET changed 42% of surgical planning that was previously based on MRI-DWI. Conclusion [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET is more efficient in assisting debulking surgery in ovarian cancer patients than MRI-DWI. Integrated [ 68 Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/MR imaging is a potential method for planning debulking surgery in ovarian cancer patients.