PET after chemotherapy identifies Hodgkin’s lymphoma patients who can avoid radiotherapy

Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning immediately after chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma can identify patients who are likely to have good survival without radiotherapy, a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine has found.1

The standard treatment for early stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma is currently chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy. However, radiotherapy is associated with late effects, including second cancers and coronary artery disease, and interest has been growing in whether PET scanning can determine those patients who are cured with chemotherapy and who do not need consolidation radiotherapy.

The study included 602 patients with a new diagnosis of early …