18F-FDG PET/CT in paediatric lymphoma: comparison with conventional imaging

• DOI: 10.1007/s00259-010-1619-6
• Publication Date: 2010-09-16T14:47:24Z
• Authors: Kevin London; Siobhan Cross; Ella Onikul; Luciano Dalla-Pozza; Robert Howman-Giles
• Keywords: Male; Adolescent; Lymphoma; Sensitivity and Specificity; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Treatment Outcome; 0302 clinical medicine; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Child, Preschool; Positron-Emission Tomography; Humans; False Positive Reactions; Female; Child; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; False Negative Reactions; Retrospective Studies

In children with Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the ability of (18)F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose PET/CT and conventional imaging (CI) to detect malignant lesions and predict poor lesion response to therapy was assessed and compared.A retrospective review of findings reported on PET/CT and CI was performed using a lesion-based analysis of 16 lymph node and 8 extra-nodal regions. Lesions were defined by histopathological findings or follow-up > 6 months.The study included 209 PET/CT scans with a valid CI comparator. A total of 5,014 regions (3,342 lymph node, 1,672 extra-nodal) were analysed. PET/CT performed significantly better than CI in the detection of malignant lesions with sensitivity and specificity of 95.9 and 99.7% compared to 70.1 and 99.0%, respectively. For predicting poor lesion response to therapy, PET/CT had fewer false-positive lesions than CI. The specificity for predicting poor lesion response to treatment for PET/CT was 99.2% compared to 96.9% for CI. PET/CT was the correct modality in 86% of lesions with discordant findings.PET/CT is more accurate than CI in detecting malignant lesions in childhood lymphoma and in predicting poor lesion response to treatment. In lesions with discordant findings, PET/CT results are more likely to be correct.