Whole body PET/CT scans for patients with lymphoma

Objectives At Froedtert Hospital, referring physicians disagree about whether or not to perform a PET/CT scan using the whole body protocol (top of the head to bottom of the toes) versus the standard protocol (base of the skull to the mid-thigh) when performing a scan on patients with lymphoma. At Froedtert Hospital, if patients are suspected or have a known disease outside of the base of the skull to mid-thigh region, the whole body protocol will be used for the patient’s scan. The objective of this study was to determine whether or not the whole body protocol should be used when imaging lymphoma patients with PET/CT.

Methods Retrospectively, lymphoma patient PET/CT exams between July 2011 and January 2012 were reviewed to determine if the whole body protocol was used. All of the patients in this study underwent their PET/CT scan at Froedtert Hospital to look for the presence of lymphoma.

Results The reviewed data include 308 patient exams. Out of the 308 patients, 42 (13.6%) had disease outside of the standard protocol scan range and therefore under went a whole body exam.

Conclusions The results showed about 14% of lymphoma patients qualified for a whole body scan because of the location of their disease. However, the question remains whether or not 14% is a significant number to have all lymphoma patients imaged using the whole body protocol. It is unknown how many of the remaining 86% of patients needed a whole body scan because of undocumented disease outside of the standard protocol area. Finally, one must take into consideration the role of ethical practices in making sure that patients are receiving the best care possible. It is clear that further research needs to be completed in order to gain a clearer perspective on this debatable issue