• Gabriele Simontacchi, Andrea Riccardo Filippi, Patrizia Ciammella, Michela Buglione, Calogero Saieva, Stefano Maria Magrini, Lorenzo Livi, Cinzia Iotti, Barbara Botto, Luca Vaggelli, Alessandro Re, Francesco Merli, and Umberto Ricardi.
• Radiotherapy Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Careggi, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
• Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 2015 Aug 1; 92 (5): 1077-1083.

PurposeThis multicenter retrospective study was designed to evaluate the prognostic role of interim fluorodeoxyglucose-labeled positron emission tomography (i-FDG-PET) in a cohort of patients affected with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) treated initially with adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy, and to assess the role of chemotherapy continuation plus radiation therapy for i-FDG-PET-positive patients.Methods And MaterialsData from 257 patients were retrieved from 4 hematology and radiation oncology departments. Inclusion criteria were stage I to IIAB HL, "intention-to-treat" AVBD plus radiation therapy, and FDG-PET at diagnosis and after the first 2 ABVD cycles. All i-FDG-PET scans underwent blinded local review by using the Deauville 5-point scoring system; patients were stratified as negative or positive using 2 Deauville score cutoff values, ≥3 or ≥4.ResultsMedian follow-up time was 56 months (range: 9-163 months); 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) for the whole cohort were 97.5% and 98.3%, respectively. Five-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 95.6%. After i-FDG-PET revision, 43 of 257 patients (16.7%) had a positive i-FDG-PET (Deauville scores: 3-5). Five-year PFS rates for i-FDG-PET-negative and i-FDG-PET-positive patients were 98.1% and 83.7%, respectively, if using a Deauville score cutoff of 3, and 97.7% and 78.6%, respectively, if using a cutoff of 4 (P=.0001). Five-year OS for i-FDG-PET-negative and i-FDG-PET-positive patients was 98.5% and 93.0%, respectively, if using a cutoff of 3, and 98.6% and 89.3%, respectively, if using a cutoff of 4 (P=.029 and P=.002). At univariate regression analysis, i-FDG-PET positivity was associated with worse OS and PFS. At multivariate analysis, performed only for PFS, i-FDG-PET positivity confirmed its negative impact (P=.002).Conclusionsi-FDG-PET is prognostic for PFS and OS in early-stage HL patients treated with combined modality therapy; the continuation of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy is able to obtain durable, complete remission in most i-FDG-PET-positive patients.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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