الفهرس 
EPIDEMIOLOGYOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
SUMMARY
N
on-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a common malignancy in adult. Positron emission tomography using F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG-PET) is considered an excellent tool for monitoring disease status in patients with lymphoma.
The study included a total of 30 patients (14 males and 16 females, mean age 48.47 years with a pathologically proven aggressive NHL. The patients presented to Ain-Shams Center of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain-Shams University and Nasser Institute for Research and Treatment between 2012 till 2014 with follow-up period from 6-18 months.
The aim of study was to review and analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment results of aggressive NHL patients. The role of PET/CT in assessment of treatment response was studied.
Clinical information was extracted from the medical records, including age, sex, methods of diagnosis, detailed pathology and imaging findings.
All patients underwent physical examination, complete blood cell counts and blood chemistry, CT scans (cervical, thoracic, abdominal and pelvic), bone marrow biopsy; the majority of patients had diffuse large B cell subtype (93.3%) and to a lesser extent follicular lymphoma (3.3%) and T cell lymphoma (3.3%).
Disease stage was established according to Cotswolds modification of the Ann Arbor system; the majority of patients had stage III (38.67%), while the rest of patients had stage II (30%), IV (20%) and I (13.33%) disease.
As regards B-symptoms 27 patients (90%) had no B-symptoms at initial presentation, while 3 patients (10%) of the studied group presented with B-symptoms. 63.3% of the patients had nodal involvement while 26.7% of patients had extra-nodal involvement.
In the present study, there was statistical significant correlation between DFS with extra-nodal involvement and IPI whereas no correlation was found with pathology, nodal involvement, B-symptoms and bulky disease.
The patients were treated according to the same protocol with respect to their risk group. The patients were treated with six to eight cycles (CHOP/R-CHOP) and/or radiotherapy. After first-line treatment, all patients were assessed for their response to therapy by using PET/CT. The follow-up was from 6-18 months.
In the present study, 13 out of 30 patients with negative PET/CT scan were free of relapse and showed sustained CR during the follow-up period. The other 9 patients with a negative PET scan developed relapse with follow-up period from 6-18 months (33.3%).
The present study showed the significance of 18F-FDG PET/CT as a functional modality in the care of adult lymphomas. PET/CT showed great use in post-therapy assessment of response to therapy. Also, PET/CT was highly specific and allowed for precise definition of residual fibrotic tissue versus residual/ recurrent viable tumor tissue.