One of the primary tools that oncologists use to stage cancers is the PET (positron emission tomography) scan, an imaging test that uses a small amount of radioactive sugar to detect metabolically active areas within the body.
CU Cancer Center member Sarah Milgrom, MD, recently conducted research to study if PET scans can help to predict recurrence in Hodgkin lymphoma. She used the images to measure the lymphoma volume for each patient at the time of diagnosis, then followed the patients over time to find out whether the initial metabolic tumor volume was associated with the risk of the cancer coming back. Her findings, which led to her being selected for a Young Investigator Award from the Children’s Oncology Group, can help cancer doctors more accurately predict patients’ risk of recurrence, which, in turn, may help them to choose the most appropriate treatments.
We talked with Milgrom about her research and what it means for patients.