title: Prognostic Value of Metabolic Tumor Volume Estimated by (18) F-FDG Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma of Stage II or III Disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume (MTV) measured by (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with rituximab-containing immunochemotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL who underwent pre-treatment torso FDG-PET/CT scan taken within 10 days before treatment were included. MTV was defined as the volume of hypermetabolic tissue with a standardized uptake value (SUV) greater than a threshold value of 2.5 and calculated using volume viewer software. Association of MTV with patient characteristics and survival were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 96 patients were evaluated. During a median follow-up period of 27.8 months, 3-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival was 69.5 % and 72.9 %, respectively. The Ann Arbor staging showed a limitation of prognosis because there was no difference of EFS between patients with Ann Arbor stage II and those with stage III. On the contrary, among patients with Ann Arbor stage II or III disease (n = 53), the higher MTV group showed significantly inferior EFS compared with the lower MTV group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the current study, we identified the pre-treatment MTV measured by FDG-PET/CT as a potential predictor of survival in patients with DLBCL treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (R-CHOP), at least in Ann Arbor stage II and III disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jihyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Junshik
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seog Gyun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung Hoon
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Minsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sun Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sym
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jinny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Kyung
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Bok
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon Univsersity School of Medicine, 21 Namdongdae-ro 774-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Diffuse large cell lymphoma; Metabolic tumor volume; Positron-emission tomography; Prognosis; Tumor burden