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Lancet Haematol. 2014 Oct;1(1):e17-27. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(14)70008-0. Epub 2014 Sep 17.

Prognostic value of PET-CT after first-line therapy in patients with follicular lymphoma: a pooled analysis of central scan review in three multicentre studies.

The Lancet. Haematology

Judith Trotman, Stefano Luminari, Sami Boussetta, Annibale Versari, Jehan Dupuis, Christelle Tychyj, Luigi Marcheselli, Alina Berriolo-Riedinger, Antonella Franceschetto, Anne Julian, Fabien Ricard, Luca Guerra, Corinne Haioun, Irene Biasoli, Hervé Tilly, Massimo Federico, Gilles Salles, Michel Meignan

Affiliations

  1. Haematology Department, Concord Hospital, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
  2. Department of Diagnostic, Clinical and Public Health Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
  3. Department of Biostatistics, The Lymphoma Academic Research Organisation (LYSARC), Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud, Pierre-Bénite, France.
  4. Nuclear Medicine Department, Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, IRCCS of Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
  5. Unité Hémopathies Lymphoïdes, Hopital Henri Mondor, Creteil, France.
  6. Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Centre Hospitalier Alpes Léman, Contamine sur Arve, France.
  7. Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Centre Georges Francois Leclerc, Dijon, France.
  8. Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital Perpan, Toulouse, France.
  9. Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Pierre-Bénite, France.
  10. Nuclear Medicine Department, San Gerardo Hospital, University of Milano Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
  11. Unité Hémopathies Lymphoïdes, Hôpital Henri Mondor and Université Paris Est Créteil, Créteil, France.
  12. Department of Medicine, University Hospital and School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  13. Département d'Hématologie, UMR918, Centre Henri Becquerel, Université de Rouen, Rouen, France.
  14. Service d'Hématologie, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Pierre-Bénite, France.
  15. Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital Henri Mondor and Université Paris Est Créteil, Créteil, France.

PMID: 27030064 DOI: 10.1016/S2352-3026(14)70008-0

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The value of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT (PET) imaging in response assessment after first-line rituximab chemotherapy for follicular lymphoma has been documented. We analysed the application of the five-point Deauville scale (5PS; used to score FDG uptake on PET images) in a large cohort derived from three studies, to assess the correlation between post-induction PET status and survival in patients with follicular lymphoma.

METHODS: In this pooled analysis, we used data from three multicentre prospective studies of first-line rituximab chemotherapy for patients with high-tumour-burden follicular lymphoma (the PRIMA study, the PET-Folliculaire study, and the Fondazione Italiana Linfomi FOLL05 study). Patients included in this analysis received at least six cycles of rituximab and chemotherapy before response assessment with conventional contrast-enhanced CT and PET low-dose CT (PET). We included only patients who had a PET scan within 3 months of the last dose of induction rituximab. Patient data, including conventional CT-based response assessment, were recorded for all patients undergoing PET review. Scans undergoing central PET review were scored independently by three reviewers according to the 5PS. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival and overall survival according to the 5PS score of post-induction PET scan (ie, positive [≥4 points] or negative [<4 points]), analysed in the central review population.

FINDINGS: Between Dec 24, 2004, and Sept 22, 2010, 439 of the patients enrolled in the three studies underwent local PET assessment, 246 of whom had centrally reviewed post-induction scans. 41 (17%) of 246 patients had a positive post-induction PET scan according to a cutoff of 4 or higher on the 5PS, with substantial reporter concordance. With a median follow-up of 54·8 months (IQR 39·7-68·5; range 7·7-90·1), the hazard ratio (HR) for progression-free survival for patients with a positive PET scan versus those with a negative PET scan was 3·9 (95% CI 2·5-5·9; p<0·0001), and for overall survival was 6·7 (2·4-18·5; p=0·0002). For patients with a positive PET scan, 23·2% (95% CI 11·1-37·9) of patients were progression free at 4 years compared with 63·4% (55·9-70·0) of those who had a negative PET scan (p<0·0001); 4-year overall survival was 87·2% (95% CI 71·9-94·5) versus 97·1% (93·2-98·8), respectively (p<0·0001). Conventional CT-based response (ie, complete response or unconfirmed complete response vs partial response) was weakly predictive of progression-free survival (HR 1·7 [95% CI 1·1-2·5]; p=0·017).

INTERPRETATION: PET-CT rather than contrast-enhanced CT scanning should be considered as a new standard for response assessment of follicular lymphoma in clinical practice, and could help guide response-adapted therapy.

FUNDING: Groupe d'Etude des Lymphomes de l'Adulte (Paris, France), now LYSA (Lymphoma Study Association), Direction de la Recherche Clinique de l'Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Fondazione Italiana Linfomi, and the Italian Ministry of Health.

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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