scholarly journals Inflammation, Atherosclerosis, and Coronary Artery Disease: PET/CT for the Evaluation of Atherosclerosis and Inflammation

2014 ◽  
Vol 8s3 ◽  
pp. CMC.S17063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Alie ◽  
Mootaz Eldib ◽  
Zahi A. Fayad ◽  
Venkatesh Mani

Atherosclerosis is a prevalent cardiovascular disease marked by inflammation and the formation of plaque within arterial walls. As the disease progresses, there is an increased risk of major cardiovascular events. Owing to the nature of atherosclerosis, it is imperative to develop methods to further understand the physiological implications and progression of the disease. The combination of positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) has proven to be promising for the evaluation of atherosclerotic plaques and inflammation within the vessel walls. The utilization of the radiopharmaceutical tracer, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), with PET/CT is invaluable in understanding the pathophysiological state involved in atherosclerosis. In this review, we will discuss the use of 18F-FDG-PET/CT imaging for the evaluation of atherosclerosis and inflammation both in preclinical and clinical studies. The potential of more specific novel tracers will be discussed. Finally, we will touch on the potential benefits of using the newly introduced combined PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for non-invasive imaging of atherosclerosis.

Author(s):  
Pavel Korol ◽  
Oleg Shcherbina

The review examined the role of arterial inflammation in atherogenesis and the pathogenic factors responsible for the high risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among HIV-infected patients. Inflammation has been shown to play an important role in all phases of atherosclerotic CVD. HIV-infected patients have an increased tendency to CVD. The most effective radionuclide method of imaging the inflammatory process in the pathogenesis of CVD among HIV-infected people is F-18 FDG PET/CT. At the present stage, several ligands for visualization were synthesized, which were used to identify vascular inflammation in preclinical and clinical studies. These tracers, in addition to F-18 FDG, have significant potential for future use among HIV-infected patients. Key words: atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, positron emission tomography, HIV infection.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Zhao ◽  
Ke Rao ◽  
Xin Chen ◽  
Si Chen ◽  
Haifeng Xu

Abstract BackgroundChoriocarcinoma is a rare malignant tumor and rarely occurs outside the gonads. Primary hepatic choriocarcinoma is more infrequent, with hidden clinical manifestations, rapid progress, and extremely poor prognosis. Only more than 10 cases were publicly reported in the world. Therefore, there is still a lack of deep understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.Case presentationWe report a case of primary hepatic choriocarcinoma in a man diagnosed by pathology. A 65-year-old male patient presented with fever and anorexia, nothing but mild jaundice of the skin and sclera was found on physical examination. Abdominal enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a huge mass in the right hepatic lobe. Fludeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography-computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) scan showed increased uptake in the liver and sigmoid colon and no uptake in the testes. The patient underwent the right hepatectomy, and postoperative pathology showed that the tumor was primary hepatic choriocarcinoma. Then he received one course of adjuvant chemotherapy. Then he developed severe myelosuppression and was transferred to the intensive care unit for further treatment. He eventually died of severe liver failure about 100 days after surgery. Primary hepatic choriocarcinoma is extremely rare, and its diagnosis is challenging.ConclusionsPrimary hepatic choriocarcinoma is a rare and highly malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. We believe that this differential diagnosis should be considered in liver tumor patients. The effective treatment for this disease is still to be explored.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 5509
Author(s):  
Joseph Frankl ◽  
Amber Sherwood ◽  
Deborah J. Clegg ◽  
Philipp E. Scherer ◽  
Orhan K. Öz

Currently, obesity is one of the leading causes death in the world. Shortly before 2000, researchers began describing metabolically active adipose tissue on cancer-surveillance 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in adult humans. This tissue generates heat through mitochondrial uncoupling and functions similar to classical brown and beige adipose tissue in mice. Despite extensive research, human brown/beige fat’s role in resistance to obesity in humans has not yet been fully delineated. FDG uptake is the de facto gold standard imaging technique when studying brown adipose tissue, although it has not been rigorously compared to other techniques. We, therefore, present a concise review of established and emerging methods to image brown adipose tissue activity in humans. Reviewed modalities include anatomic imaging with CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); molecular imaging with FDG, fatty acids, and acetate; and emerging techniques. FDG-PET/CT is the most commonly used modality because of its widespread use in cancer imaging, but there are mechanistic reasons to believe other radiotracers may be more sensitive and accurate at detecting brown adipose tissue activity. Radiation-free modalities may help the longitudinal study of brown adipose tissue activity in the future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Nicolaas I. Bohnen ◽  
Jacob Haugen ◽  
Karen Kluin ◽  
Vikas Kotagal

Motor speech apraxia is a speech disorder of impaired syllable sequencing which, when seen with advancing age, is suggestive of a neurodegenerative process affecting cortical structures in the left frontal lobe. Arachnoid cysts can be associated with neurologic symptoms due to compression of underlying brain structures though indications for surgical intervention are unclear. We present the case of a 70-year-old man who presented with a two-year history of speech changes along with decreased initiation and talkativeness, shorter utterances, and dysnomia. [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) Positron Emission and Computed Tomography (PET-CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed very focal left frontal cortical hypometabolism immediately adjacent to an arachnoid cyst but no specific evidence of a neurodegenerative process.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Yiyan Liu

Patients with HIV infection often have generalized lymphadenopathy and/or other lymphoid proliferation and are at significantly increased risk for lymphoma. This study retrospectively evaluated the diagnostic value of concurrent nasopharyngeal lesion and lymphadenopathy on positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG PET-CT) imaging. The eligible cases were from patients with HIV infection and lymphadenopathy and referred for FDG PET-CT to evaluate lymphoma or other malignancies prior to pathological investigation. FDG PET-CT images and interpretation reports were correlated with clinical information and pathological diagnoses. Among 22 eligible patients, FDG avid nasopharyngeal lesions were incidentally noted in 7 on PET-CT imaging, and all had lymphomas diagnosed with subsequent biopsies (6 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and 1 Hodgkin’s lymphoma). In the remaining 15 patients with adenopathy but no visible nasopharyngeal lesion or uptake on PET-CT imaging, 9 had biopsies and lymphomas were diagnosed in 4. The patients with FDG avid retroperitoneal or intra-abdominal lymphadenopathy had a greater possibility of lymphoma, compared to those with adenopathy localized only in the upper torso. Coexistent FDG avid nasopharyngeal lesion and generalized lymphadenoapthy on PET-CT imaging are indicative of a malignant lymphoma rather than benign lymphproliferative disease or nasopharyngeal carcinoma.


2019 ◽  
Vol 144 (09) ◽  
pp. 587-594
Author(s):  
Thorsten Bley ◽  
Michael Zänker ◽  
Claudia Dechant ◽  
Nils Venhoff

AbstractIn Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA), a timely diagnosis is required to avoid severe complications such as blindness or structural vascular damage. The heterogeneous symptoms are mainly due to local and systemic inflammatory processes. Diagnostics are based on increased inflammation parameters in the laboratory, imaging, in which color-coded duplex sonography (FKDS), high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT) or CT angiography (CTA) and 18F fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography with CT (FDG-PET-CT) have become established, as well as histopathological findings in temporal artery biopsy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 258.2-259
Author(s):  
S. J. Lee ◽  
C. M. Hong ◽  
Y. M. Kang

Background:Patients with the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to general population. However there are insufficient modality to predict future CVD risk in RA.Objectives:This study assessed whether splenic and arterial activity measured by positron emission tomography/ computed tomography (PET/CT) predict the risk of CVD thrombosis events beyond conventional risk factors in patients with RA.Methods:We enrolled 84 patients with active RA who underwent fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT and disease activity evaluation at the same time. CVD thrombosis events were independently evaluated, while blinded to activity of PET/CT, during follow up periods. FDG uptake by nuclear medicine physician was examined in the spleen and ascending aorta and blood pool activity of superior vena cava as SUV (standardized uptake values) and target-to-background-ratio (TBR) while blinded to CVD events.Results:During follow-up periods, 19 patients developed CVD thrombosis events. Both splenic and arterial TBR were significantly increased in patients with subsequent CVD events compared to in patients without (2.19 ± 0.60 vs 1.80 ± 0.34, p < 0.013, 1.72 ± 0.22 vs 1.57 ± 0.22, p< 0.012). Splenic TBR was associated with an increased risk of CVD events after adjustment for conventional CVD risk factors [hazard ratio (HR): 3.15; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.46 to 6.79; p = 0.003]. Moreover, the association between splenic TBR and CVD events remained significant after adjustment for disease activity (HR: 3.00; CI: 1.36 to 6.63; p = 0.007) and after adjustment for arterial TBR (HR: 3.00; CI: 1.36 to 6.63; p = 0.007).Conclusion:Our results show splenic metabolic uptake in FDG-PET/CT in patients with RA provide information for subsequent CVD events beyond conventional risk factors.References:[1]Lee SJ, Jeong JH, Lee CH, et al. Development and validation of an (18) F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography with computed tomography-based tool for the evaluation of joint counts and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019;71:1232-1240.Disclosure of Interests: :None declared


Author(s):  
Marco Tana ◽  
Silvio di Carlo ◽  
Marcello Romano ◽  
Massimo Alessandri ◽  
Cosima Schiavone ◽  
...  

Background:18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography integrated with computed tomography (18-F-FDG-PET/CT) is getting wide consensus in the diagnosis and staging of neoplastic disorders and represents a useful tool in the assessment of various inflammatory conditions. </P><P> Discussion: Sarcoidosis is an uncommon disease characterized by the systemic formation of noncaseating granulomas. Lungs are the sites most often affected, and investigation with high resolution computed tomography and biopsy is essential to achieve a correct diagnosis. 18-F-FDGPET/ CT is effective in the assessment of pulmonary sarcoidosis by demonstrating pulmonary and extrathoracic involvement and findings correlate well with pulmonary function in patients affected.Conclusion:This review would illustrate the usefulness and limits of 18-F-FDG-PET/CT in the assessment of pulmonary sarcoidosis.


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