Wassélius Johan, Larsson Stig, Jacobsson Hans
Department of Radiology, Karolinska University Hospital, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden.
Ann Nucl Med. 2009 Jan;23(1):59-64. doi: 10.1007/s12149-008-0207-3. Epub 2009 Feb 11.
It has been shown that [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) can identify macrophage-rich high-risk atherosclerotic plaques in animal models as well as in patients with atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries. The development of inflamed macrophage-rich plaques over time is not well known. This study was performed to determine the variability of such FDG-accumulating plaques between consecutive PET/CT examinations.
Twenty-eight patients who underwent two whole-body FDG-PET/CT examinations within 7 months for malignant diseases were re-evaluated for atherosclerotic lesions in major arterial segments. The plaques were identified as active, inactive, or mixed depending on their appearance on PET and CT. Every identified plaque was compared with that of the other examination to evaluate the time-to-time correlation.
The time-to-time correlation was close to 100% for calcified inactive plaques and about 50% for FDG-accumulating active plaques, with a high consistency between all examined arterial segments in this material.
A large proportion of FDG-accumulating plaques can be identified on consecutive FDG-PET/CT examinations within 7 months.
已表明，[18F]氟脱氧葡萄糖正电子发射断层扫描/计算机断层扫描（FDG-PET/CT）能够在动物模型以及颈动脉有动脉粥样硬化斑块的患者中识别富含巨噬细胞的高危动脉粥样硬化斑块。随着时间推移，炎症性富含巨噬细胞斑块的发展情况尚不清楚。本研究旨在确定连续PET/CT检查之间此类FDG聚集斑块的变异性。
对28例因恶性疾病在7个月内接受两次全身FDG-PET/CT检查的患者，重新评估主要动脉段的动脉粥样硬化病变。根据斑块在PET和CT上的表现，将其分为活性、非活性或混合性。将每次识别出的斑块与另一次检查的斑块进行比较，以评估时间相关性。
钙化非活性斑块的时间相关性接近100%，FDG聚集活性斑块的时间相关性约为50%，该材料中所有检查的动脉段之间具有高度一致性。
在7个月内的连续FDG-PET/CT检查中，可识别出很大一部分FDG聚集斑块。
