Purpose.

To compare the volumetric of PET-biomarkers – the total metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and the total lesion glycolysis (TLG) – in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients using automatic and manual methods for pathological foci segmentation.

Material and methods. This retrospective study included 24 Hodgkin's lymphoma patients with different stages who underwent staging with 18F-FGD PET/CT. The examinations exams were carried out on a PET/CT scanner (Biograph-64, Siemens) 90 minutes after intravenous administration of 18F-FDG (175-200 MBq) in the “whole body” regime. The examinations were processed with automatic (MFS) and manual methods to obtain MTV and TLG using two fixed absolute thresholds (SUVmax ≥ 2,5 и SUVmax ≥ 4,0) for each lesion.

Results. In the group (n=24), there were no statistical differences between the mean values and SD obtained by automatic (multi-foci segmentation – MFS) and manual methods (p > 0.05). Тhe values amounted, respectively, for the MTV 365±469 cm³ and 357±428 cm³ for the SUVmax ≥ 2,5 threshold and 215±285 cm³ and 209±266 cm³ for the SUVmax ≥ 4,0 threshold; for the TLG 1870±2168 cm³ and 1849±2080 cm³ for the SUVmax ≥ 2,5 threshold and 1356±1628 cm³ and 1352±1621 cm³ for the SUVmax ≥ 4,0 threshold. The analysis of patients with different stages of disease was also done. More pronounced differences in the indicators were revealed in patients with disseminated disease. The time for MTV and TLG calculation was much shorter when automatic (MFS) method was used.

Conclusion. The calculation of MTV and TLG using automatic (MFS) and manual methods are generate similar results, but automatic method much less time consumes. Initial experience has shown that both methods can be used in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients.