Hans U Gerth

Publications (2)11.05 Total impact

• Article: Efficacy and toxicity of a rituximab and methotrexate based regimen (GMALL B-ALL/NHL 2002 protocol) in Burkitt's and primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma.

  Michele Pohlen, Hans U Gerth, Ruediger Liersch, Steffen Koschmieder, Rolf M Mesters, Torsten Kessler, Iris Appelmann, Carsten Müller-Tidow, Wolfgang E Berdel
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  ABSTRACT: There have been several attempts to improve treatment and outcome of patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBL) and Burkitt's lymphoma (BL). In recent years, chemotherapy dose intensification and the addition of rituximab have led to a remarkable progress and have developed into integral parts of treatment for both entities of lymphoma [1–4]. Here, we report our monocenter results of a high-dose methotrexate based alternating regimen with rituximab (B-ALL/NHL 2002 protocol) in 15 patients with PMBL and 28 patients with sporadic BL. Since the early 1980s, protocols of GMALL have been continuously adapted and in the meantime they have become reference treatment for BL and B-ALL in Germany. The latest changes comprised the additional use of rituximab, standardized G-CSF support,implementation of high-dose cytarabine, intrathecal triple therapy,and age-adjusted stratification. Furthermore, we additionally amended supportive care with palifermin as it reduced severity and prevalence of mucositis [5].
  American Journal of Hematology 08/2011; 86(12):E61-4. · 4.67 Impact Factor
• Article: Significant benefit of multimodal imaging: PET/CT compared with PET alone in staging and follow-up of patients with Ewing tumors.

  Hans U Gerth, Kai U Juergens, Uta Dirksen, Joachim Gerss, Otmar Schober, Christiane Franzius
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  ABSTRACT: Hybrid PET/CT was compared with PET alone in the staging and restaging of patients with Ewing tumor to assess the benefit of the combined imaging technique. A total of 163 (18)F-FDG PET/CT studies performed in 53 patients (age: range, 4-38 y; median, 16.5 y) with histopathologically confirmed Ewing tumor were evaluated retrospectively. All PET/CT studies included low-dose CT for attenuation correction; in 91 examinations, additional diagnostic chest CT was performed. PET and CT data were assessed independently by 2 nuclear medicine physicians and 2 radiologists, respectively. Finally, both datasets were fused by use of software and analyzed by all 4 reviewers (consensus reading). Each lesion was scored with a 5-point scale. Biopsy, imaging, or clinical follow-up served as a standard of reference. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to evaluate PET and PET/CT performance characteristics. To measure the abilities to detect and correctly localize tumor foci, localization ROC (L-ROC) curves were generated for PET. A total of 609 lesions were detected by PET alone. The hybrid PET/CT technique resulted in a change of score in 160 of these lesions (26%): higher scores in 23 lesions (4%) and lower scores in 137 lesions (23%). In 49 lesions detected by PET (8%), the localization had to be changed after image fusion. Additionally, 124 (21%) more lesions were found by PET/CT than by PET alone, resulting in a total of 733 lesions. As determined by lesion-based analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET were 71%, 95%, and 88%, respectively; the corresponding values for the hybrid PET/CT technique were 87%, 97%, and 94% (P < 0.0001). The areas under the curve in the ROC analysis were 0.82 for PET and 0.92 for PET/CT (P < 0.0001), and that in the L-ROC analysis was 0.66 for PET. PET/CT is significantly more accurate than PET alone for the detection and localization of lesions and improves staging for patients with Ewing tumor. The hybrid technique is superior to PET alone in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, mainly because of the detection of new lesions.
  Journal of Nuclear Medicine 12/2007; 48(12):1932-9. · 6.38 Impact Factor