Increased glucose metabolism in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as studied with FDG pet

Glucose metabolism has been demonstrated to be increased in neoplastic tissue, and to reflect the grade of malignancy of human cancer. We studied in vivo glucose metabolism in 22 pts with untreated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET). FDG uptake in lymphoma deposits was measured as standardized uptake values (SUVs) of the tracer, and compared with histological classification and proliferative activity. Results The median SUV of the lymphomas was 8.5. A high FDG uptake in tumors was associated with high histological degree of malignancy by the Working Formulation (P = 0.005) or by the Kiel classification (P = 0.003). A high FDG accumulation was also associated with a high S-phase fraction (r = 0.786, P = 0.002). Conclusion FDG PET may find application in assessing the grade of aggressiveness of lymphoma in clinically problematic cases.