TUESDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- An interim [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) can effectively predict the survival outcomes of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after two cycles of anthracycline-based chemotherapy plus rituximab, according to a study published online Dec. 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Violaine Safar, from the Hôpital Henri Mondor in Créteil, France, and colleagues investigated the prognostic value of interim [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose PET performed in 112 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL, who were treated with an anthracycline-based regimen plus rituximab. PET images performed at baseline and after two cycles of chemotherapy were interpreted by computing maximum standard uptake values (SUVmax), and were also interpreted visually. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to correlate PET positivity or negativity with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).
The investigators found that after two cycles of treatment, 62.5 percent of the patients presented with a negative PET scan on visual analysis. The three-year PFS and OS for patients with negative PET scans were 84 and 88 percent, respectively, which were significantly higher than the corresponding figures of 47 and 62 percent, respectively, for patients with positive PET scans. In 85 patients with PET analysis based on a change in SUVmax evaluation of more than 66 percent, the three-year PFS was 77 and 37.5 percent for patients with PET-negative and PET-positive results, respectively.
"An early PET scan after two cycles of treatment can effectively predict the outcome in patients with DLBCL treated with rituximab and anthracycline-based chemotherapy by using either a visual or quantitative approach," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial relationships with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
Abstract
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