Prognostic Significance of Early Positron Emission Tomography (PET) With Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F] FDG) in Intermediate and High Grade Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the positive and negative predictive values of early positron emission tomography (PET) scanning using fludeoxyglucose F 18 in terms of the probability of patients with newly diagnosed intermediate- or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who achieve or do not achieve complete remission, after treatment with 1 course of rituximab and combination chemotherapy comprising cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone.
• Determine event free and overall survival of patients with an early positive and negative PET scan treated with this regimen.
• Determine the predictive value of early PET scan response ratio as a continuous variable in terms of response to therapy (assessed at the end of therapy), disease-free survival, and overall survival, in patients treated with this regimen.
• Correlate International Prognostic Index score at presentation with early PET scan results and overall outcome in patients treated with this regimen.
• Correlate the degree of neutropenia 7 to 10 days after the first course of treatment with rituximab and combination chemotherapy with PET scan response and pre-treatment blood CD34-positive cell concentration in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients receive fludeoxyglucose F 18 (^18FDG) IV. Beginning 1 hour later, patients undergo whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. Patients also undergo conventional radiographic staging of their disease.

Patients then receive standard R-CHOP (or an alternative regimen) comprising rituximab IV over 3-6 hours, cyclophosphamide IV over 30 minutes, doxorubicin IV over 5 minutes, and vincristine IV over 5 minutes on day 1 and oral prednisone once daily on days 1-5. Treatment repeats every 14-21 days for up to 4 courses in the absence of unacceptable toxicity.