Background
18F-FDG PET/CT is a standard for many B cell malignancies, while blood DNA measurements are emerging tools. Our
Conclusions
Some PET parameters describing tumour burden, fragmentation/massiveness and dispersion are significantly correlated with circulating DNA parameters of DLBCL and cHL patients. These results could help to understand the pathophysiology of B cell malignancies.
Methods
Twenty-seven DLBCL and forty-eight cHL were prospectively included. Twelve PET parameters were analysed. Spearman's correlations were used to compare PET parameters each other and to circulating cell-free DNA ([cfDNA]) and circulating tumour DNA ([ctDNA]). p values were controlled by Benjamini-Hochberg correction.
Results
Among the PET parameters, three different clusters for tumour burden, fragmentation/massiveness and dispersion parameters were observed. Some PET parameters were significantly correlated with blood DNA parameters, including the total metabolic tumour surface (TMTS) describing the tumour-host interface (e.g. ρ = 0.81 p < 0.001 for [ctDNA] of DLBLC), the tumour median distance between the periphery and the centroid (medPCD) describing the tumour's massiveness (e.g. ρ = 0.81 p < 0.001 for [ctDNA] of DLBLC) and the volume of the bounding box including tumours (TumBB) describing the disease's dispersion (e.g. ρ = 0.83 p < 0.001 for [ctDNA] of DLBLC). Conclusions: Some PET parameters describing tumour burden, fragmentation/massiveness and dispersion are significantly correlated with circulating DNA parameters of DLBCL and cHL patients. These results could help to understand the pathophysiology of B cell malignancies.