engleski

Prognostic value of F-18-FDG coincidence PET in the post therapy evaluation of patients with lymphoma

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to asses the prognostic value of FDG-PET performed with triple-head coincidence gamma camera during an early follow-up period and its accuracy in early detection of residual or recurrent disease in patients with Hodgkin’ s disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Methods: The single centre study comprised 31 consecutive patients (median age 35 years ; range 16-66 years) with primary or recurrent biopsy confirmed lymphoma which had follow-up of at least 12 months (median 20 months ; range 12-39 months). PET studies were performed using hybrid PET camera with triple head coincidence imaging capability. The long-term follow-up data after treatment and PET studies were extracted from the patients’ medical files. Results: Fifteen patients (5 NHL, 10 HD) were negative on PET scan. They did not receive any therapy after FDG-PET, and no one relapsed in the follow-up. Twelve patients presented with clear FDG pathological accumulation in one or more sites previously shown to be involved by lymphoma. Ten patients received further therapy. Six of them never achieved complete remission (CR). Three patients entered CR but relapsed (5, 17, and 28 months after FDG-PET) despite of additional therapy. Two patients were noted as false- positive. In four patients only slightly increased FDG uptake was observed (equivocal findings). Conclusions: This methodology was good enough for reliable prognosis in follow-up of our patients, especially in patients without FDG pathological fixation. False positive FDG uptake seems to be a problem. On the other hand, a negative PET scan is an important contribution in the management of these patients owing to its prognostic value, and can reassure patients and their doctors that disease is not active.

Hodgkin’ s disease; non-Hodgkin’ s lymphoma; fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose; FDG; PET; coincidence; therapy monitoring; prognosis; follow-up

nije evidentirano