title: Prognostic value of pretransplantation positron emission tomography using fluorine 18-fluorodeoxyglucose in patients with aggressive lymphoma treated with high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation.
abstract: The study assessed the prognostic value of fluorine 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ([18F]FDG-PET) after salvage chemotherapy before high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation (HDT/SCT) in patients with induction failure or relapsing chemosensitive lymphoma. Retrospective analysis of the clinical and conventional imaging data of 60 patients scheduled for HDT/SCT was performed in parallel with the analysis of the [18F]FDG-PET results. To determine the ability of [18F]FDG-PET to predict clinical outcome, PET images were reread without knowledge of conventional imaging and clinical history. Presence or absence of abnormal [18F]FDG uptake was related to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Thirty patients showed a negative [18F]FDG-PET scan before HDT/SCT; 25 of those remained in complete remission, with a median follow-up of 1510 days. Two patients died due to a treatment-related mortality but without evidence of recurrent disease at that time (228-462 days). Only 3 patients had a relapse (median PFS, 1083 days) after a negative [18F]FDG-PET scan. Persistent abnormal [18F]FDG uptake was seen in 30 patients and 26 progressed (median PFS, 402 days); of these 26, 16 died from progressive disease (median OS, 408 days). Four patients are still in complete remission after a positive scan. Comparison between groups indicated a statistically significant association between [18F]FDG-PET findings and PFS (P <.000001) and OS (P <.00002). [18F]FDG-PET has an important prognostic role in the pretransplantation evaluation of patients with lymphoma and enlarges the concept of chemosensitivity used to select patients for HDT/SCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Karoline
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spaepen
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stroobants
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dupont
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandenberghe
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maertens
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bormans
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Balzarini
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Wolf-Peeters
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mortelmans
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Verhoef
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18