What is the International Validation Study for interim PET in ABVD treated advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma?

FAQ published on February 4, 2014
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Martin Hutchings, MD, PhD
Department of Hematology
The Finsen Centre, National Hospital
Copenhagen University Hospital
Copenhagen, Denmark
What is the International Validation Study for interim PET in ABVD treated advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma?
I am commonly asked the following questions in my clinical practice. I am asked to share thoughts and experience regarding the International Validation or International Confirmatory Study of interim PET and PET-CT that was performed in cohort of 260 advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma patients and reported recently. Well, this study was undertaken in order to confirm the prognostic value of early PET after 2 cycles of ABVD in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma, but that was not the only purpose. The other purpose was to validate the recently introduced Deauville criteria, which is a 5-point scale for assessment of early interim PET in order to assess PET scans for prognosis early during chemotherapy in Hodgkin lymphoma. So, what were the results of the International Confirmatory Study as I prefer to call it? Well, first of all, the prognostic value of PET was demonstrated and confirmed, so that was one thing, but also in an international even transatlantic study with the patients from many, many countries, it was confirmed that indeed the Deauville criteria gave the same or even better prognostic value as previous sets of criteria, and also and importantly, the interobserver variation when using the Deauville criteria for assessment of early interim PET is quite low and lower than previous reading criteria of the PET. This is quite important if we want to not just enjoy the results of observational studies of PET but also to translate these findings into clinical practice, that is, to not just have early interim PET assessed in very specialized centers of excellence but to use these results in the community.
Last modified: February 6, 2014
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