Ulku Cenk Turba MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Patrice K. Rehm MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Atherosclerosis (AT), one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, is a progressive process responsible for most heart disease. Well defined AT risk factors are age, sex, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, family history, triglycerides, inactivity, and obesity. There are some but limited reports describing FDG accumulation in vascular plaques. The purpose of our study was to compare FDG uptake in major vessels in patients with high and low risk of AT.

We identified 120 consecutive patients (pts) who had 120 clinical FDG PET-CT studies from medical records. We separated the pts into either high or low risk for AT based on the presence of risk factors, 3 or more, or 2 or less, respectively based on clinical data. We identified 40 low risk pts (32 F, 8 M; age 18-40 yrs), and 80 high risk pts (16 F, 64 M; age 40-86 yrs). Each PET-CT was reviewed and re-analyzed for FDG uptake in vessel walls using visual and semi-quantitative methods, at various sites: bilateral common carotid arteries (CCA), ascending aorta(ASCA), thoracic aorta (TA), supra-renal abdominal aorta (SRAA), infra-renal abdominal aorta (IRAA), bilateral femoral artery (FA), and bilateral renal artery (RA). Differential SUV (D-SUV) was calculated based on ASCA which is the largest artery and nearest point to the heart in blood pool. Each region of interest was assigned a visual score and SUV-max. Calcification assessment for each vessel was also performed. Study was done with IRB approval.

In low risk for AT pts group(40 pts) findings; 3/80 CCA and 1/40 SRAA SUV-max was higher than ASCA. Remainder of the vessels SUV-max was lower than ASCA. In high risk for AT pts group(80 pts) findings; 32/160 CCA , 17/80 TA, 54/80 SRAA, 8/40 IRAA, 11/160 RA and 2/160 FA SUV-max was higher than ASCA.

Atherosclerosis is an ongoing process. Our findings indicate that patients at high risk for AT demonstrate significantly higher vascular FDG uptake. Further study is warranted to determine if FDG can be used to estimate atherosclerotic burden.

Atherosclerosis (AT), one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, is a progressive process responsible for most heart disease. Well defined AT risk factors are age, sex, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, family history, triglycerides, inactivity, and obesity. There are some but limited reports describing FDG accumulation in vascular plaques. The purpose of our study was to compare FDG uptake in major vessels in patients with high and low risk of AT.

We identified 120 consecutive patients (pts) who had 120 clinical FDG PET-CT studies from medical records. We separated the pts into either high or low risk for AT based on the presence of risk factors, 3 or more, or 2 or less, respectively based on clinical data. We identified 40 low risk pts (32 F, 8 M; age 18-40 yrs), and 80 high risk pts (16 F, 64 M; age 40-86 yrs). Each PET-CT was reviewed and re-analyzed for FDG uptake in vessel walls using visual and semi-quantitative methods, at various sites: bilateral common carotid arteries (CCA), ascending aorta(ASCA), thoracic aorta (TA), supra-renal abdominal aorta (SRAA), infra-renal abdominal aorta (IRAA), bilateral femoral artery (FA), and bilateral renal artery (RA). Differential SUV (D-SUV) was calculated based on ASCA which is the largest artery and nearest point to the heart in blood pool. Each region of interest was assigned a visual score and SUV-max. Calcification assessment for each vessel was also performed. Study was done with IRB approval.

In low risk for AT pts group(40 pts) findings; 3/80 CCA and 1/40 SRAA SUV-max was higher than ASCA. Remainder of the vessels SUV-max was lower than ASCA. In high risk for AT pts group(80 pts) findings; 32/160 CCA , 17/80 TA, 54/80 SRAA, 8/40 IRAA, 11/160 RA and 2/160 FA SUV-max was higher than ASCA.

Atherosclerosis is an ongoing process. Our findings indicate that patients at high risk for AT demonstrate significantly higher vascular FDG uptake. Further study is warranted to determine if FDG can be used to estimate atherosclerotic burden.

Turba, U, Rehm, P, Critical Vessels Assessment Using F-18 FDG PET-CT Applied to High and Low Risk Patients for Atherosclerosis.  Radiological Society of North America 2005 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 27 - December 2, 2005 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2005/4419862.html