[The clinical application of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose coincidence imaging in lymphoma]

To investigate clinical value of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) coincidence imaging (SPECT/PET) in diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma.

(18)F-FDG metabolic imaging was performed in eighteen patients NHL before and after treatment using a Vertex(Plus) EPIC MCD/AC from ADAC Company. The findings of (18)F-FDG metabolic images were analyzed in qualitative and semi-quantitative ways. (18)F-FDG images were compared with synchronous routine images such as ultrasonography and CT.

Thirty studies were performed in 18 patients with NHL in this study. There were 21 true positives, 6 true negatives, 2 false positives and 1 false negative. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were 90.0%, 95.5%, 75.0%, 91.3%, and 85.7%, respectively. (18)F-FDG imaging led to a change of 16.7% in clinical staging, and 46.7% in management. The PPV and NPV of recurrence detected by (18)F-FDG SPECT/PET were 100% and 80.0%, while these of CT were 50.0% and 25.0% after therapy. Four of five patients with negative entered clinical complete remission (CR), whereas all the 11 patients with abnormal (18)F-FDG uptake relapsed or reprogressed. Progression-free survival (PFS) with negative (18)F-FDG was 16 - 47 months (median: 28.7 months) and PFS with positive was 3 - 46 months (median: 8.3 months).

SPECT/PET (18)F-FDG metabolic imaging plays an important role in clinical diagnosis and treatment of NHL.