Metabolic activity measured by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in newly diagnosed patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma: correlation with immunophenotype

To compare the metabolic activity by ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) uptake across the various histologic subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and to investigate the relationship between metabolic activity and immunophenotype. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) studies of patients with newly diagnosed NHL from Jul 2010 to Mar 2012 were retrospectively reviewed, 82 patients were enrolled in our study according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of each patient reflecting the metabolic activity was recorded. Mean SUVmax of aggressive B-cell NHL, indolent B-cell NHL and T-cell NHL were compared. Pearson and Spearman test were used to analyze the relationship between SUVmax and immunophenotype. The SUVmax of various subtypes of lymphoma revealed a wide range from 0.9 to 40.3, but lesions of 79 patients in this study showed obviously FDG uptake. SUVmax of indolent B-cell NHL (4.5 ± 2.4) was significantly lower than that of aggressive B-