Baseline SUVmax did not predict histological transformation in follicular lymphoma in the phase 3 GALLIUM study

A minority of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) undergo histological transformation (HT). This retrospective analysis of 549 patients from the phase 3 GALLIUM study (NCT01332968) assessed the relationship between maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) at baseline on positron emission tomography (PET) and HT risk. Previously untreated patients with high tumor burden grade 1-3a FL received obinutuzumab- or rituximab-based chemotherapy induction. The relationship between baseline SUVmax (bSUVmax) and HT risk was assessed using cutoff values for SUVmax >10 and >20. Overall, 15 of 549 (2.7%) patients with baseline PET scans experienced biopsy-confirmed HT (median follow-up, 59 months). More than 65% of patients had bSUVmax > 10, with 3.3% of these experiencing HT. Only 1 of 74 (1.4%) patients with bSUVmax > 20 underwent HT. Median bSUVmax in patients with HT vs without HT was 12.4 (range, 8.1-28.0) vs 11.8 (range, 3.1-64.4), respectively; median bSUVrange (the difference between bSUVmax of the most and least 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-avid lymphoma sites) was 8.0 (range, 1.1-23.9) vs 7.1 (range, 0.0-59.8), respectively. There was no temporal relationship between bSUVmax and HT. Neither bSUVmax nor bSUVrange predicted HT in GALLIUM, suggesting that there may be little benefit in rebiopsy of lesions to exclude HT based on SUVmax alone before initiating therapy in patients with high tumor burden FL.