PET poised to alter the current paradigm for response assessment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

摘要

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is a group of heterogeneous tumours originating in lymphoid tissue. The outcome of patients with lymphoma is, in general, better than non-lymphoid malignancies. Indeed, aggressive NHLs, which make about two-thirds of the NHL subtypes, are potentially curable (about 60% of patients are cured) with conventional and high-dose therapy. More than 70% of patients with newly diagnosed lymphoma respond well to chemotherapy alone or to chemoimmunotherapy with or without radiotherapy. In addition to the availability of new treatments, accurate staging and risk stratification with appropriate selection of treatments, as well as improved assessment of response to therapy, have resulted in a higher success rate in the treatment of lymphoma. The increasing number of treatment options available for patients with lymphoma currently being tested in clinical trials clearly requires the availability of standardized guidelines for assessment of response to therapy, which should ensure comparability of success rates among these trials.