Featured Review: Imaging with PET during chemotherapy to predict outcome in adults with Hodgkin lymphoma

The objective of this review was to determine whether in previously untreated adults with HL (all stages) receiving first-line therapy, interim PET scan results (i.e. a positive or a negative result) can distinguish between those with a poor prognosis and those with a better prognosis, and thereby predict survival in each group.How many studies were included? What was included and what was excluded?We included twenty-three studies in total, in this review. In all studies, interim PET was conducted during first-line therapy and after two, three, and/or four cycles of chemotherapy in adults with HL (all stages). We included both retrospective and prospective studies that provided evidence on our prognostic factor of interest (interim PET-scan results) and outcomes of interest (overall survival, progression-free survival and PET-associated adverse events). It was important to include studies in which the treatment regimen of the participants was not adapted according to the interim PET scan results. In other words, irrespective of the interim PET scan result (interim PET-positive or interim PET-negative), participants should continue with the same treatment regimen as specified at the beginning of the study. The reason being that the occurrence of the predicted outcome in each group shall be attributable to the prognostic factor of interest (the interim PET scan result) rather than the modified treatments. Hence, we excluded studies that in their design allowed adaptation of the...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news