Mediastinal bulky tumour in Hodgkin's disease and prognostic value of positron emission tomography in the evaluation of post-treatment residual masses

• Published in: Acta haematologica Vol. 112; no. 4; p. 194
• Main Authors: Keresztes, Katalin, Lengyel, Zsolt, Devenyi, Katalin, Vadasz, Györgyi, Miltenyi, Zsofia, Illes, Arpad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 01.01.2004
• Subjects: Child; Child, Preschool; Diagnostic Errors; Disease-Free Survival; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Follow-Up Studies; Hodgkin Disease - diagnosis; Hodgkin Disease - mortality; Hodgkin Disease - therapy; Humans; Infant; Male; Neoplasm, Residual - diagnosis; Positron-Emission Tomography; Prognosis; Recurrence; Retrospective Studies; Survival Rate
• ISSN: 0001-5792
• DOI: 10.1159/000081271

Among the 193 patients (82 female, 111 male) treated primarily for Hodgkin's disease at our clinic between 1990 and 2001 and followed up until 2003, 42 (22%) had mediastinal bulky tumours (MBTs) by the Cotswolds criteria. The rate of MBT diagnosis was significantly greater in the early stage of the disease, these patients were younger and--in contrast to the other group--they all received combined therapy. No significant differences were found in the overall and relapse-free survival rate in the two groups, but relapse and death rates were lower in the patients with bulky tumours. Of the total number of patients, 27 underwent a total of 31 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) examinations, mainly for the evaluation of post-treatment residual mass viability. In the 12 positive cases, the majority of patients received further therapy. During the mean follow-up time of 58 months (range 5-98 months) after obtaining negative results, progression of the disease was found in 2 cases 14 and 23 months later, respectively. Based on our results, we conclude that FDG-PET examinations show a good correlation with clinical follow-up results.