PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gupta, Khushboo
AU  - Krishna, Dr. B.A.
AU  - Singh, Natasha
AU  - Antony, Joppy
TI  - Usefulness of FDG PET/CT in patients with gastrointestinal lymphoma
DP  - 2011 May 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - 1879--1879
VI  - 52
IP  - supplement 1
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/1879.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/1879.full
SO  - J Nucl Med2011 May 01; 52
AB  - 1879 Objectives In cases of gastro-intestinal Lymphoma, the challenges faced during diagnosis on conventional imaging are extent of the disease, benign inflammation versus malignant disease and recurrence evaluation. We undertook this study to evaluate utility of FDG PET/CT in such cases. Methods A total of 19 patients gastro-intestinal NHL were studied in the period from May, 2006 to April, 2010, age ranging from 15 to 40 years. Histologically 14 patients had DLBCL, 3 had Burkitt’s NHL, 2 were MALT and 1 was anaplastic. We analysed patients in 3 groups: Group I included 3 patients for pre-treatment staging, Group II had 7 patients for response evaluation post chemotherapy and Group III consisted of 9 patients who were on follow up post treatment. Whole body FDG PET/CT scan were performed in all the patients at 1 hour and in few delayed 2.5 hours imaging post injection was performed. All patients were followed either on biopsy, clinical assessment and / or further institution of therapy Results In Group I (n=3), PET/CT was positive on all 3 patients and upstaged 1/3 patient. In Group II (n=7) PET/CT showed true responders in 6/7 patients (85.7%) and true partial responders in 1 patient. In Group III (n=9) PET/CT detected true disease recurrence proved on biopsy in two patients - one at the colon anastmotic site where CT was negative and the other in stomach where initially biopsy had revealed gastritis. False positive detection was seen in 2 patients: one had liver lesion and another had disease in ileum anastmotic site. Rest of the patients with true remission on PET/CT did well clinically. The sensitivity and specificity in this group patient for disease recurrence was 100% and 75% respectively. Conclusions The implications of FDG PET/CT study in cases of gastro-intestinal Lymphoma offers valuable information, better than other conventional imaging, in pre-treatment staging, post treatment response evaluation and specially highlighting in our study the issue of disease recurrence, hence yielding results decisive for management