Spontaneous Remission and Concomitant Progression in a Patient with DLBCL

Eun Ji Han; Jihyun Kim; Suk Young Park; Joo Hyun O

doi:10.3390/diagnostics10110950

Spontaneous Remission and Concomitant Progression in a Patient with DLBCL

Diagnostics (Basel). 2020 Nov 14;10(11):950. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics10110950.

Authors

Eun Ji Han¹, Jihyun Kim¹, Suk Young Park², Joo Hyun O¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea.
² Division of Hematooncology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea.

Abstract

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of lymphoma. Although DLBCL can be cured in more than half of all patients, up to 50% of patients become refractory to initial treatment or relapse after complete remission. We present a case of complete spontaneous remission of some tumors and concomitant newly developed tumors observed in a patient with relapsed DLBCL. Spontaneous remission of lymphoma without treatment is a rare phenomenon and can occur at baseline as well as in relapsed DLBCL. However, most patients who initially experience spontaneous remission later develop relapse. Thus, careful follow-up is required, and fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) allows monitoring of multiple lesions.

Keywords: FDG; PET/CT; diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; spontaneous remission.