The diagnostic value of FDG-PET cannot be judged by iliac bone marrow biopsy: Author response

摘要

We read with interest the letter entitled "The diagnostic value of FDG-PET cannot be judged by iliac bone marrow biopsy" by Cheng , which was written in response to our paper "Clinical utility of 18F FDG-PET/ CT in the detection of bone marrow disease in Hodgkin's lymphoma". Prior to the introduction of 18-fludeox-yglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)/ CT, bone marrow biopsy (BMB)-with all its limitations, which were mentioned in our paper and also highlighted by Cheng-was the gold standard for assigning bone marrow involvement (BMI) status to a lymphoma patient. Against this background, our study presented the first comparison between FDG uptake and BMB findings in Pakistani patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Our study highlighted, in conclusion, the complementary role of FDG-PET/CT with BMB in detecting BMI in HL, with BMB as the reference standard. We agree that BMB has a high false-negative rate and cannot accurately reflect the status of lymphoma in bone marrow. In our study, we found that of 122 patients who had negative BMBs, PET/CT was negative for BMI in 85, with no false-negatives noted; this indicates that routine BMB might be unnecessary when FDG-PET/CT is negative.