EARLY RESPONSE MONITORING IN MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA USING F-18 FLUORODEOXYGLUCOSE SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY

Metabolic response monitoring early during chemotherapy may have a major impact on clinical management of patients with malignant lymphoma. In two patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18DG)) single-photon emission tomography (SPET) studies were performed during the first two chemotherapeutic cycles. Persisting uptake predicted treatment failure whereas a sharp reduction of F-18DG uptake was demonstrated in the case of a responsive tumour. Qualitative analysis of conventional F-18DG imaging may thus serve to identify patients with a nonresponding tumour. The potential of this technique in the determination of the initial response remains to be established. Imaging with F-18DG and SPET appears promising as a more easily available methodology than F-18DG positron emission tomography.