Abstract
Background
Pericardial disease is frequently associated with systemic diseases. Diagnosis is often troublesome because pericardial fluid does not always give an answer and limited assessment for the acquisition of tissue in effusive-constrictive or constrictive pericarditis. Even after biopsy of pericardium, diagnostic yield is very low without further information for the underlying case. 18FDG-PET can visualize both the inflammation and malignancy through whole body assessment; therefore, it can visualize both pericardium and other organs to provide further insight to the systemic disease.
Purpose
To assess the role of 18FDG-PET for differential diagnosis of pericardial disease in real clinical practice.
Methods
Patients who admitted to our pericardial disease clinic who underwent 18FDG-PET for diagnostic methods were derived from electrical medical system database and reviewed. Exclusion criteria were known the advanced stage of malignancy, or already diagnosed from pericardial effusion analysis (positive for malignancy or bacterial culture) by pericardiocentesis.
Results
Forty patients were finally analyzed. Most common final diagnosis was Idiopathic (n=13, 33%) and tuberculosis (n=12, 28%). Malignancy was diagnosed in 6 patients (15%). Diagnosis of malignancy in all the patients was not confirmed in pericardial effusion. One patient was diagnosed by pericardial biopsy and one by pericardial effusion. Other four were diagnosed by biopsy of other organs. Post-radiation therapy associated pericarditis in two patients, post-operative pericarditis in 5 patients, and transudate, hematoma associated pericarditis, parasite infection in one patient each. Lymph node uptake was found in 28 cases, and four of them was “suggestive malignancy”, 18 was “suggestive benign” and other 6 was “need further evaluation”. All of the patients categorized as “suggestive malignancy” was helped by 18FDG-PET which indicated the optimal biopsy site and 3 of them finally diagnosed as malignancy and one as parasite infection. All of the patients who were categorized as “suggestive benign” were finally diagnosed as a non-malignant disease. Pericardial biopsy was performed in 19 cases (48%) and only 4 were diagnostic. Other 15 specimen showed “chronic inflammation”. Guiding the optimal biopsy site by 18FDG-PET was achieved in 6 patients. 19 cases had normal SUV in the pericardium and 7 patients had very high pericardial SUV more than 10. 6 patients with benign LV pattern was finally diagnosed as tuberculosis pericarditis and one patient with the malignant pattern was finally diagnosed as angiosarcoma
Conclusion
18FDG-PET is helpful in the initial assessment of pericardial disease in the aspects of 1) presumptive diagnosis of malignancy in especially in nondiagnostic pericardial effusion or technically risky for pericardiocentesis, 2) Selection of optimal biopsy site with a higher yield of disease, and 3) possibly non-invasive diagnosis of tuberculosis pericarditis.
Acknowledgement/Funding
None
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