ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo assess the prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters for predicting therapeutic response in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma （DLBCL）. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data and 18F-FDG PET/CT radiomics features of 81 DLBCL patients enrolled between June 2015 and October 2020. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the predictive factors for therapeutic response of DLBCL， based on which a predictive model was developed accordingly. The performance of the model was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curves and calibration plots. ResultsDuring the two years after first chemotherapy， 23 patients （28.3%） developed relapse and 58 patients （71.7%） had progression-free survival （PFS）. The analysis for the predictive capability of the binary logistic regression model incorporating the PET/CT features revealed that the imaging features of 18F-FDG PET/CT after chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors for PFS. Among them， SUVTHR-mean2 was the most important factor for predicting therapeutic response in DLBCL patients after chemotherapy， with a cutoff value of 2.00 （AUC=0.81）. Conclusions18F-FDG PET/CT showed a valuable prognostic performance for PFS in DLBCL patients after chemotherapy， with the imaging feature after chemotherapy SUVTLR-mean2 being the optimal independent predictor. Our predictive model of imaging features might have an important prognostic value in assessing the risk of disease progression， guiding the treatment and follow-up protocol， improving therapeutic efficiency and cutting down the medical cost.