Age and dose-limited PET-CT scan regime in lymphoma: between the devil and the deep blue sea?

Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2012 Jul;150(3):381-4. doi: 10.1093/rpd/ncr412. Epub 2011 Nov 7.

Abstract

In this study the authors speculate about hypothetical effective-dose (E) reduction through limiting post-chemotherapy PET-CT scanning to lymphoma sites previously identified on pre-treatment CT. E reductions/scan time savings are compared between post-treatment standard and theoretically limited PET-CT scans. The influence of patient age with E savings and associated clinical implication for 100 subjects are discussed. The greatest E theoretical savings of 52 and 32% for the CT contribution and combined PET-CT, respectively, were seen in patients <18 y old using limited scans in this study, with a potential mean time saving of 16 min per patient across the entire cohort. However, the limited PET-CT regime here missed a 1% rate of unexpected cancer that standard PET-CT recorded. The authors recommend performing larger scale multi-centre studies comparing PET-CT pre- and post-chemotherapy to establish full clinical efficacy of this method.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Child
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
  • Female
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
  • Humans
  • Lymphoma / diagnostic imaging*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Positron-Emission Tomography*
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Time Factors
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18