title: Mediastinal bulky tumour in Hodgkin's disease and prognostic value of positron emission tomography in the evaluation of post-treatment residual masses.
abstract: Among the 193 patients (82 female, 111 male) treated primarily for Hodgkin's disease at our clinic between 1990 and 2001 and followed up until 2003, 42 (22%) had mediastinal bulky tumours (MBTs) by the Cotswolds criteria. The rate of MBT diagnosis was significantly greater in the early stage of the disease, these patients were younger and--in contrast to the other group--they all received combined therapy. No significant differences were found in the overall and relapse-free survival rate in the two groups, but relapse and death rates were lower in the patients with bulky tumours. Of the total number of patients, 27 underwent a total of 31 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) examinations, mainly for the evaluation of post-treatment residual mass viability. In the 12 positive cases, the majority of patients received further therapy. During the mean follow-up time of 58 months (range 5-98 months) after obtaining negative results, progression of the disease was found in 2 cases 14 and 23 months later, respectively. Based on our results, we conclude that FDG-PET examinations show a good correlation with clinical follow-up results.
authors.affiliation: Immunohaematologic Unit, Medical and Health Science Centre, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary. katalin@iiibel.dote.hu
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keresztes
authors.forename: Zsolt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lengyel
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Devenyi
authors.forename: Györgyi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vadasz
authors.forename: Zsofia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Miltenyi
authors.forename: Arpad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Illes
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18