Luis Fernando Pracchia

18F-FDG PET After 2 Cycles of ABVD Predicts Event-Free Survival in Early and Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma

Our objective was to assess the prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET after 2 cycles of chemotherapy using doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients overall and in subgroups of patients with early and advanced stages and with low and high risks according to the International Prognostic Score (IPS). Methods: One hundred fifteen patients with newly diagnosed HL were prospectively included in the study. All underwent standard ABVD therapy followed by consolidation radiotherapy in cases of bulky disease. After 2 cycles of ABVD, the patients were evaluated with PET (PET2). Prognostic analysis compared the 3-y event-free survival (EFS) rate to the PET2 results, clinical data, and IPS. Results: Of the 104 evaluated patients, 93 achieved complete remission after first-line therapy. During a median follow-up of 36 mo, relapse or disease progression was seen in 22 patients. Treatment failure was seen in 16 of the 30 PET2-positive patients and in only 6 of the 74 PET2-negative patients. PET2 was the only significant prognostic factor. The 3-y EFS was 53.4% for PET2-positive patients and 90.5% for PET2-negative ones (P < 0.001). When patients were categorized according to low or high IPS risk and according to early or advanced stage of disease, PET2 was also significantly associated with treatment outcome. Conclusion: PET2 is an accurate and independent predictor of EFS in HL. A negative interim 18F-FDG PET result is highly predictive of treatment success in overall HL patients, as well as in subgroups with early or advanced-stage disease and with low or high IPS risk.

Cost Effectiveness of Positron Emission Tomography in Patients With Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Unconfirmed Complete Remission or Partial Remission After First-Line Therapy

PURPOSE To assess the cost effectiveness of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in patients with Hodgkins lymphoma (HL) with unconfirmed complete remission (CRu) or partial remission (PR) after first-line treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred thirty patients with HL were prospectively studied. After treatment, all patients with CRu/PR were evaluated with FDG-PET. In addition, PET-negative patients were evaluated with standard follow-up, and PET-positive patients were evaluated with biopsies of the positive lesions. Local unit costs of procedures and tests were evaluated. Cost effectiveness was determined by evaluating projected annual economic impact of strategies without and with FDG-PET on HL management. RESULTS After treatment, CRu/PR was observed in 50 (40.0%) of the 127 patients; the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of FDG-PET were 100%, 92.0%, 92.3%, and 100%, respectively (accuracy of 95.9%). Local restaging costs without PET were

Consistency of FDG-PET Accuracy and Cost-Effectiveness in Initial Staging of Patients With Hodgkin Lymphoma Across Jurisdictions

350,050 compared with

Positron emission tomography with 2-[18F]-Fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-Glucose for initial staging of hodgkin lymphoma: a single center experience in Brazil

283,262 with PET, a 19% decrease. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is -

FOXP3+ regulatory and TIA-1+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes in HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma

3,268 to detect one true case. PET costs represented 1% of total costs of HL treatment. Simulated costs in the 974 patients registered in the 2008 Brazilian public health care database showed that the strategy including restaging PET would have a total program cost of

Metabolic test with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose in staging and detection of residual tumor or recurrence in Hodgkin lymphoma

56,498,314, which is

Quantificação das citocinas séricas Th1/Th2 por citometria de fluxo no linfoma de Hodgkin clássico

516,942 less than without restaging PET, resulting in a 1% cost saving. CONCLUSION FDG-PET demonstrated 95.9% accuracy in restaging for patients with HL with CRu/PR after first-line therapy. Given the observed probabilities, FDG-PET is highly cost effective and would reduce costs for the public health care program in Brazil.

Prognostic impact of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma subgroups in patients undergoing autologous SCT

INTRODUCTION Two hundred ten patients with newly diagnosed Hodgkins lymphoma (HL) were consecutively enrolled in this prospective trial to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of fluorine-18 ((18)F)-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan in initial staging of patients with HL. METHODS All 210 patients were staged with conventional clinical staging (CCS) methods, including computed tomography (CT), bone marrow biopsy (BMB), and laboratory tests. Patients were also submitted to metabolic staging (MS) with whole-body FDG-PET scan before the beginning of treatment. A standard of reference for staging was determined with all staging procedures, histologic examination, and follow-up examinations. The accuracy of the CCS was compared with the MS. Local unit costs of procedures and tests were evaluated. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated for both strategies. RESULTS In the 210 patients with HL, the sensitivity for initial staging of FDG-PET was higher than that of CT and BMB in initial staging (97.9% vs. 87.3%; P < .001 and 94.2% vs. 71.4%, P < 0.003, respectively). The incorporation of FDG-PET in the staging procedure upstaged disease in 50 (24%) patients and downstaged disease in 17 (8%) patients. Changes in treatment would be seen in 32 (15%) patients. Cumulative cost for staging procedures was

Diagnosis and treatment of polycythemia vera: Brazilian experience from a single institution

3751/patient for CCS compared to

Comparison of catheter-related infection risk in two different long-term venous devices in adult hematology-oncology patients

5081 for CCS + PET and