Background: Roughly 20% of lymphoma patients had extra-nodal involvement. With this study.
Objectives: We aimed to present our experience with extra-nodal lymphoma in terms of presentation and outcome.
Material and methods: This is an observational study that explored the PET/CT scan done to lymphoma patients who have either primary extra-nodal lymphoma or extra-nodal involvement in their initial staging workup. The study was conducted between 2019 and 2022. The population were adults who had histological confirmation of lymphoma, no other malignancy, and were presented with extra-nodal involvement were included in this study. All patients had initial and either interim or post-therapy scans.
Results: A total of 27 patients with 54 PET/CT scans were included in this study. The median age was 32 (18-69) years, and 71.7% were males. 26.4% of the scans were done as initial assessment, while 5%, 47%, and 17% were interim assessment, post-therapy evaluation, and follow-up respectively. Hodgkin lymphoma was reported in 45.3% of the scan. The distribution of stage I, II, III and IV was 11.3%, 3.8%, 20.8% and 64.2% respectively. Primar extra-nodal lymphoma were seen in 45.3%. The detection rate of PETCT was higher in the bone marrow (22.6% versus 7.5% for CT, p = 0.008). There was non-significant trend toward higher detection rate for PET in spleen (32.1% versus 26.4%). PETCT changed the primary management of the cases in 42.9% of the cases.
Conclusion: PETCT had upper hand compared to CT in detection rate of lesion especially for the spleen.