By Tiffany Tang, MD
The role of routine surveillance imaging (RSI) in first complete remission (CR1) for peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) patients is unclear. Theoretically, RSI should allow for the earlier detection of asymptomatic relapses, thus leading to the earlier initiation of second line therapy. In an abstract presented during a session of the 2014 ASCO conference, we investigated the proportion of PTCL relapses detected by RSI and those found through clinical finding, before comparing the outcomes in patients from those two groups.
341 patients were retrospectively identified through the T-cell lymphoma databases of the National Cancer Centre Singapore/Singapore General Hospital and Weill-Cornell Medical College. These patients were divided into groups based on their mode of relapse detection; through RSI or clinical findings. PTCL subtypes included PTCL-NOS, AITL, ALCL (ALK positive and negative), EATL, GDT, HSTL and ATLL, while patients with leukemias, indolent, composite and cutaneous lymphomas were excluded. Of the 341 patients, 145 patients achieved CR1 and 64 relapsed. Relapses were detected by clinical findings in 51 patients, RSI in 9 patients and only 3 patients did not have any clinical findings at the time of relapse.
This data from our findings suggests that RSI does not often impact the detection of CR1 in patients with PTCL.
New Developments in Lymphoma 