title: Prognostic value of interim FDG-PET after two or three cycles of chemotherapy in Hodgkin lymphoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Long-term survival from Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is 80-90%, but the treatment has serious late adverse effects. Modern risk-adapted treatment requires accurate assessment of the patient's prognosis. This investigation assessed the value of positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET) after two or three cycles of chemotherapy for prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 85 patients with HL underwent FDG-PET after two or three cycles of chemotherapy. Median follow-up was 3.3 years. FDG-PET results were related to PFS and OS using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Regression analyses were employed to test for independence of established pretreatment prognostic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After two or three cycles of chemotherapy, 63 patients had negative FDG-PET scans, nine patients had minimal residual uptake (MRU) and 13 patients had positive scans. Three PET-negative patients and one patient from the MRU group relapsed. In the PET-positive group, nine patients progressed and two died. Survival analyses showed highly significant associations between early interim FDG-PET and PFS (P <0.0001) and OS (P <0.03). All advanced-stage patients with positive interim FDG-PET relapsed within 2 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early interim FDG-PET is an accurate and independent predictor of PFS and OS in HL. A positive interim FDG-PET is highly predictive of relapse in advanced-stage disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Department of Haematology, The Clinical PET Centre, Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hutchings
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Mikhaeel
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fields
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nunan
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Timothy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18