Prognostic value of combined MTV and ADC derived from baseline FDG PET/MRI in aggressive non-Hodgkins lymphoma

Purpose The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from baseline FDG PET/MRI compared to established clinical risk factors in terms of progression free survival (PFS) at 2 years in a cohort of diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) and high-grade-B-cell lymphoma (HGBCL). Methods Thirty-three patients and their baseline PET/MRI examinations were included. Images were read by two pairs of nuclear medicine physicians and radiologists for defining lymphoma lesions. MTV was computed on PET, and up to six lymphoma target lesions with restricted diffusion was defined for each PET/MRI examination. Minimum ADC (ADC min ) and the corresponding mean ADC (ADC mean ) from the target lesion with the lowest ADC min were included in the analyses. For the combined PET/MRI parameters, the ratio between MTV and the target lesion with the lowest ADC min (MTV/ADC min) and the corresponding ADC mean (MTV/ADC mean ) was calculated for each patient. Clinical, histological, and PET/MRI parameters were compared between the treatment failure and treatment response group, while survival analyses for each variable was performed by using univariate Cox regression. In case of significant variables in the Cox regression analyses, Kaplan-Meier survival analyses with log-rank test was used to study the effect of the variables on PFS. Results ECOC PS scale ≥2 ( p = 0.05) and ADC mean ( p = 0.05) were significantly different between the treatment failure group ( n = 6) and those with treatment response ( n = 27). Survival analyses showed that ADC mean was associated with PFS ( p = 0.02, [HR 2.3 for 1 SD increase]), while combining MTV and ADC did not predict outcome. In addition, ECOG PS ≥2 ( p = 0.01, [HR 13.3]) and histology of HGBCL ( p = 0.02 [HR 7.6]) was significantly associated with PFS. Conclusions ADC mean derived from baseline MRI could be a prognostic imaging biomarker for DLBCL and HGBCL. Baseline staging with PET/MRI could therefore give supplementary prognostic information compared to today’s standard PET/CT.