Assessment of aortitis by semiquantitative analysis of 180-min 18F-FDG PET/CT acquisition images

• Published in: European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging 2014-12, Vol.41 (12), p.2319-2324
• Main Authors: Martínez-Rodríguez, Isabel, Martínez-Amador, N., Banzo, I., Quirce, R., Jiménez-Bonilla, J., De Arcocha-Torres, M., Ibáñez-Bravo, S., Lavado-Pérez, C., Bravo-Ferrer, Z., Blanco, R., González-Gay, M. A., Carril, J. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aortitis - diagnostic imaging; Cardiology; Case-Control Studies; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Multimodal Imaging; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Original Article; Orthopedics; Positron-Emission Tomography; Predictive Value of Tests; Radiology; Radiopharmaceuticals; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 1619-7070; 1619-7089
• DOI: 10.1007/s00259-014-2863-y

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of semiquantitative analysis of 180-min 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT images for the assessment of aortitis in cases of suspected large vessel vasculitis (LVV) and to establish a threshold index for application in the clinical setting. Methods This prospective study included 43 patients (mean age 67.5 ± 12.9 years) with suspicion of LVV (25 with a final diagnosis of aortitis). 18 F-FDG PET/CT scan was acquired 180 min after injection of 7 MBq/kg of 18 F-FDG. A semiquantitative analysis was performed calculating the aortic wall maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ) (T), the lumen SUV max (B) and the target to background ratio (TBR). These results were also compared with those obtained in a control population. Results The mean aortic wall SUV max was 2.00 ± 0.62 for patients with aortitis and 1.45 ± 0.31 for patients without aortitis ( p