Association between age, uptake of F-fluorodeoxyglucose and of F-sodium fluoride, as cardiovascular risk factors in the abdominal aorta.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to assess the feasibility of quantifying fluorine-18-fluorodexoglucose (F-FDG) and F-sodium fluoride (F-NaF) uptake in abdominal aorta and examine their association with age and cardiovascular risk factors.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Our study comprised 123 subjects (48±14 years of age, 62 men) including 78 healthy volunteers and 45 patients with chest pain syndrome, who originally enrolled in the CAMONA study in Odense, Denmark (NCT01724749). All subjects underwent F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and F-NaF PET/CT on separate days, 180min and 90min after administration of tracers, respectively. The global tracer uptake value (GTUV) in the abdominal aorta was determined as sum of the product of each slice area and its corresponding average standardized uptake value (SUV mean), divided by the sum of those slice areas. In addition, for each subject, the 10 years Framingham risk score (FRS) was calculated. The correlations between F-NaF and F-FDG GTUV with age and 10 years FRS were assessed in all, healthy and patient subjects.

RESULTS

There was a significant, positive correlation between subjects' age and F-NaF GTUV (r=0.35, P<0.001), but not F-FDG GTUV (r=0.06, P=0.53). Also, there was a significant, positive correlation between 10 years FRS and F-NaF GTUV (r=0.30, P<0.001), but not F-FDG GTUV (r=0.01, P=0.95). Individual differences in F-FDG and 1F-NaF uptake were large in both healthy subjects and patients.

CONCLUSION

In this study, the global uptake of F-NaF in abdominal aorta was positively associated with age and 10 years FRS in all subjects, healthy and patient groups, whereas the global uptake of F-FDG was not.