18F-FDG PET/CT in the diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of follicular lymphoma

Abstract

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a non-Hodgkin lymphoma with complex biological properties and heterogeneous clinical manifestations. FL mainly involves lymph nodes throughout the body, and about 7% of patients in China will histologically transform into other aggressive lymphoma. Therefore, there are great differences in the treatment strategies and prognosis of patients with FL. With the development of molecular imaging technology, PET/CT fusion molecular ima-ging can not only identify small lesions in vivo more accurately, but also provide metabolic information of lesions. A number of studies and guidelines have affirmed the important value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) image features in the whole process of FL disease diagnosis, grading and staging, evaluation of efficacy and prediction of survival outcomes. However, due to the lack of uniform standards for image scanning and threshold definition, the specific prognostic efficacy of PET/CT parameters in FL patients in different studies is still controversial. This article reviews the recent progress in early identification of high-risk follicular lymphoma patients and prognosis prediction of FL patients based on PET/CT image features at home and abroad, further affirms the value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in judging the possibility of histological transformation of FL and evaluating the survival outcome of FL patients. To assist to optimize the clinical diagnosis and treatment decisions, improve the treatment efficiency and prognosis of FL patients.

Keywords

• |follicular lymphoma|positron emission computed tomography|prognosis|diagnosis|artificial intelligence