Cardiac MR PET CT Program, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
J Nucl Cardiol. 2013 Jun;20(3):385-95. doi: 10.1007/s12350-013-9697-z. Epub 2013 Mar 23.
Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) events. Here, we assess arterial inflammation, using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging (FDG-PET/CT), in patients with bronchial asthma and low to intermediate Framingham risk scores (FRS).
A total of 102 patients underwent FDG-PET/CT imaging for clinical indications. Thirty-four patients (mean age 54.9 ± 16.1) with mild asthma and no known atherosclerotic disease were compared to 2 non-asthmatic groups. The first control group (n = 34) were matched by age, gender, and FRS. The second control group (n = 34) had clinical atherosclerosis and were matched by gender. Thereafter, arterial FDG uptake on PET images was determined, while blinded to patient identifiers.
Target-to-background-ratio (TBR) in the aorta was higher in asthmatics vs non-asthmatic FRS-matched controls (1.96 ± 0.26 vs 1.76 ± 0.20; P < .001). The aortic TBR remained elevated in asthmatics vs non-asthmatic controls after adjusting traditional CV risk factors (P < .001). An inverse correlation was observed between FDG uptake and lung function, FEV1 (P = .02) and peak flow (P = .03).
Bronchial asthma is associated with increased arterial inflammation beyond that estimated by current risk stratification tools. Further studies are required to evaluate whether attenuation of systemic inflammation will decrease CV events.
支气管哮喘是一种与心血管（CV）事件增加相关的慢性炎症性疾病。在这里，我们评估了使用 18F-氟脱氧葡萄糖正电子发射断层扫描/计算机断层扫描成像（FDG-PET/CT）在低至中 Framingham 风险评分（FRS）的支气管哮喘患者中的动脉炎症。
共有 102 名患者因临床指征接受了 FDG-PET/CT 成像。将 34 名（平均年龄 54.9±16.1 岁）轻度哮喘且无已知动脉粥样硬化疾病的患者与 2 个非哮喘组进行比较。第一个对照组（n=34）按年龄、性别和 FRS 匹配。第二个对照组（n=34）有临床动脉粥样硬化，并按性别匹配。然后，在对患者身份信息进行盲法处理的情况下，确定 PET 图像上的动脉 FDG 摄取量。
与非哮喘 FRS 匹配对照组相比，哮喘患者的主动脉目标与背景比（TBR）更高（1.96±0.26 比 1.76±0.20；P<.001）。在调整传统 CV 危险因素后，哮喘患者的主动脉 TBR 仍高于非哮喘对照组（P<.001）。FDG 摄取量与肺功能（FEV1，P=0.02 和峰值流量，P=0.03）呈负相关。
支气管哮喘与动脉炎症增加有关，超过了目前风险分层工具的估计。需要进一步研究以评估系统炎症的减轻是否会降低 CV 事件的发生。
