18F-FDG PET/CT in Lymphoma: Has Imaging-Directed Personalized Medicine Become a Reality?

PET/CT using 18F-FDG is an essential part of the management of patients with lymphoma. Efforts to standardize PET acquisition and reporting, including the 5-point Deauville scale, have enabled PET to become a surrogate for treatment success or failure in common lymphoma subtypes. This review summarizes the key clinical-trial evidence that supports PET-directed personalized approaches in lymphoma. PET-guided therapy has improved outcomes in Hodgkin lymphoma, using less chemotherapy and more selective radiotherapy. Attempts to intensify chemotherapy in aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphomas have, however, proved ineffective in patients treated with rituximab and chemotherapy. Trials are under way to determine whether PET can obviate consolidation radiotherapy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. More recently, PET has been reported to be a reliable predictor of outcome in follicular lymphoma requiring treatment, and prospective trials to test PET-guided therapy in this disease are anticipated.