50 mg/m2 i.v. day 1, teniposide 60 mg/m2 i.v. day 1, prednisone 40 mg/m2. Ã 5 p.o. days 1â5; bleomycin 10 mg and vincristine at 1.4 mg/m2 i.v. day. 15).
Original article
Annals of Oncology 13: 1356–1363, 2002 DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdf256
Early restaging positron emission tomography with 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose predicts outcome in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma K. Spaepen1*, S. Stroobants1, P. Dupont1, P. Vandenberghe2, J. Thomas3, T. de Groot1, J. Balzarini4, C. De Wolf-Peeters5, L. Mortelmans1 & G. Verhoef 2 Departments of 1Nuclear Medicine, 2Hematology, 3Oncology, 4Microbiology and 5Pathology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg and Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Received 24 January 2002; revised 12 March 2002; accepted 27 March 2002
Background: Less than half of all patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) are cured with standard chemotherapy. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between responders to standard treatment and non-responders who may benefit from an early change to a more effective therapy. This study was intended to assess the value of a midtreatment fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ([18F]FDG-PET) scan to predict clinical outcome in patients with aggressive NHL. Patients and methods: Seventy newly diagnosed patients with aggressive NHL, who were treated with doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy, underwent a [18F]FDG-PET scan at midtreatment. Presence or absence of abnormal [18F]FDG uptake was related to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of the International Prognostic Index (IPI) and early [18F]FDG-PET findings on PFS and OS. Results: At midtreatment, 33 patients showed persistent abnormal [18F]FDG uptake and none of these patients achieved a durable complete remission (CR), whereas 37 patients showed a negative scan; 31/37 remained in CR, with a median follow-up of 1107 days. Only 6/37 patients either achieved a partial response or relapsed. Comparison between groups indicated a statistically significant association between [18F]FDG-PET findings and PFS (P
