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Radiologic methods that accurately assess clinical response are essential for the evaluation of current and experimental regimens used to treat hematologic malignancies. Recent advances that incorporate combination chemotherapy and the anti-CD20-targeted agent rituximab (Rituxan) have improved the clinical outcome of patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but only 60% of all DLBCL patients are potentially cured and achieve sustained progression-free survival (PFS). PFS after salvage therapies including autologous stem cell transplantation drops to 30% leading to a disease relapse and a poor prognosis. 1 A response-adaptive imaging strategy that accurately determines the initial response to therapy and then individualizes subsequent treatment could improve PFS, reduce relapse rates and improve clinical outcomes.
Malek et al. (2015) studied this question.