ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment 18F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in patients with elderly classical Hodgkin′s lymphoma (cHL). Methods:From April 2011 to April 2020, the pretreatment clinical and 18F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters of 42 elderly cHL patients (29 males and 13 females, median age 69 years) pathologically confirmed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were retrospectively analyzed. Metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were obtained with 41%SUV max as the threshold. ROC curve analysis was applied to obtain the best prognostic cut-off value of SUV max, MTV and TLG. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used for univariate survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for multivariate survival analysis. Results:SUV max, MTV and TLG of 42 elderly cHL patients were 16.49(12.24, 23.59), 79.29(26.29, 184.51) ml and 729.02(206.03, 2 073.98) g, respectively. ROC curve showed that the AUCs of SUV max, MTV and TLG were 0.425, 0.882 and 0.832, respectively, and the best prognostic cut-off values were 16.49, 82.38 ml and 556.26 g, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that age, B symptoms, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, Hb content, Ann Arbor stage, German Hodgkin Study Group (GHSG) score, MTV and TLG were relative factors affecting progression-free survival (PFS) rate ( χ2 values: 4.50-12.60, all P<0.05), and age, B symptoms, LDH level, Ann Arbor stage, GHSG score, MTV and TLG were relative factors affecting overall survival (OS) rate ( χ2 values: 5.20-11.17, all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that MTV (relative risk ( RR)=5.370, 95% CI: 1.697-16.277) and TLG ( RR=4.854, 95% CI: 1.228-23.352) were independent prognostic predictors of PFS rate (both P<0.05), and GHSG score ( RR=3.761, 95% CI: 1.092-12.955; RR=3.668, 95% CI: 1.068-12.571), MTV ( RR=6.173, 95% CI: 1.431-16.322) and TLG ( RR=5.162, 95% CI: 1.200-22.199) were independent prognostic predictors of OS rate (all P<0.05). Conclusion:MTV and TLG in pretreatment 18F-FDG PET/CT are independent prognostic factors for predicting PFS and OS in patients with elderly cHL patients, which have certainly reference value for prognosis.