The Effect of Initial Fluorodeoxyglucose Uptake in the Liver and Spleen on Treatment Success and Prognosis

Introduction: Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas. For many years, monoclonal antibody and multiple drug combination chemotherapies have been preferred in its treatment. In addition to the classifications such as International Prognostic Index (IPI), Revised International Prognostic Index (R-IPI) or The National Comprehensive Cancer Network- International Prognostic Index (NCCN-IPI) which predict prognosis and survival in DLBCL patients, many studies are conducted to find easier, cheaper, faster, applicable prognostic data. We aim to determine the relationship between the fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in the liver and spleen and prognosis, treatment response, relapse and survival in patients with DLBCL. Material and Method: Patients followed up between 2009-2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Age, gender, laboratory, PET / CT liver-spleen SUVmax, Ann Arbor stage, ECOG scale, presence of extranodal involvement, presence of B symptoms, IPI score, treatment responses, follow-up period, recurrence and overall survival were recorded. Results: The median SUVmax of the liver was 3.87 (range: 2.04-19.70) and the median SUVmax of the spleen was 3.1 (range: 1.75-58.85). Based on the median figures of SUVmax, the patients were divided into two groups. The IPI score distribution between the low-high SUVmax groups did not differ significantly (p ˃ 0.05) in terms of treatment response, recurrence and overall survival.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Not applicable

The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.