Importance of Histologic Verification of Positive Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Findings in the Follow-Up of Patients With Malignant Lymphoma

Conclusion This study emphasizes that the histologic diagnosis should be confirmed in posttherapy PET/CT-positive patients via biopsy before adjusting the treatment regimen as a result of the high false-positive rate, including unexpected SPM or benign/normal tissue lesions. Micro-Abstract We evaluated histologically verified after therapy positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT)-positive lesions in the follow-up of 190 patients with malignant lymphoma in first complete remission. Among 32 patients with histologically verified disease, 10 exhibited relapse of lymphoma, 11 had second primary malignancies, and 11 had benign/normal lesions. The symptomatic PET/CT-positive patients had a significantly shorter overall survival than the asymptomatic PET/CT-positive patients. The histologic diagnosis should be considered in posttherapy PET/CT-positive lymphoma patients.
Source: Clinical Lymphoma Myeloma and Leukemia - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research