Clinical application of 18F-FDG PET/CT in Takayasu arteritis / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the characteristics of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in Takayasu arteritis (TA) and its clinical value.Methods Five male patients with TA in active phase (age range65-82 years;mean age(72.8±6.6) years) from November 2011 to August 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.All patients underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging,and one of them who was in stable phase after one year's treatment underwent follow-up PET/CT imaging.The characteristics of the abnormal 18F-FDG uptake and SUVmax of lesions were analyzed.Another 5 age-and gender-matched patients with slightly elevated tumor markers and normal results of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in the same period were selected as the control group.Arteries were divided into 18 segments,including the ascending aorta,the aortic arch,the descending aorta,the abdominal aorta,the brachiocephalic trunk,the left/right common carotid,the left/right subclavian,the left/right brachial,the superior mesenteric,the left/right common iliac,the left/right renal,and the left/right femoral,and their SUVmax were measured respectively.Paired t test was used to analyze the difference of SUVmax between TA group and the control group.Results (1) 18 F-FDG PET/CT imaging displayed diffused increase of radioactivity in the wall of aorta and its major branches in TA group,and CT showed multiple irregular thickening,punctate and banding calcification in arterial walls of those patients.The ascending aorta,the aortic arch,the descending aorta,the abdominal aorta,the brachiocephalic trunk,the left/right subclavian,the left/right common carotid,and the left/right common iliac artery were all involved in 5 patients;the left/right brachial and the left/right femoral artery were involved in 4 patients and the superior mesenteric artery was involved in 2 cases.The SUVmax range was 1.4-7.6,the highest SUVmax was in the left subclavian artery (n=2),the right subclavian artery (n=1) and the abdominal aorta artery (n=2).(2)The SUVmax of TA group and the control group were 3.96±1.35 and 2.13±0.53,respectively(t=10.40,P＜0.001).(3) As to the TA patient in stable phase after treatment,the FDG uptake of the wall of aorta and its major branches decreased obviously compared with that before treatment.The SUVmax of left subclavian artery decreased from 6.8 to 3.2.Conclusions 18F-FDG PET/CT is helpful in diagnosis of TA.It could accurately display the range of involved arteries,reflect the activity of the lesion and evaluate the therapeutic response.