Al-Zaghal Abdullah, Aras Mustafa, Borja Austin J, Moghbel Mateen, Demir Yusuf, Houshmand Sina, Ciftci Esra, Werner Thomas J, Høilund-Carlsen Poul F, Torigian Drew A, Han Yuchi, Alavi Abass
Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Etimed Hospital Ankara, Turkey.
Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2020 Jun 15;10(3):127-134. eCollection 2020.
The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of FDG-PET/CT imaging to detect pulmonary artery atherosclerosis and to assess the correlation between pulmonary function testing (PFT) results and the overall pulmonary artery metabolic activity. Twenty-nine subjects between the ages of 57-75, with a history of clinical suspicion of lung cancer, underwent PET/CT imaging at 3 hours following the administration of FDG. Global FDG uptake in the central pulmonary artery branches was determined. Average SUVmax, SUVmean, and tissue-to-background (TBR) mean and maximum were calculated within each vessel. The degree of FDG uptake in non-COPD and COPD patients and its correlation with PFT were examined in this population. Furthermore, the results from patients were compared with those of 10 age-matched controls. Based on these data, the number of lesions with varying degrees of FDG uptake among patients was higher than that in the normal control group. However, there was no statistically significant difference in average SUVmax, average SUVmean, average TBRmax, or average TBRmean between non-COPD and COPD patients. This indicates that the atherosclerotic process is focal and is not diffuse in nature. Although the global quantitative data generated did not reveal evidence for diffuse artery inflammation in patients with COPD, qualitative examination showed clear-cut evidence for focally increased FDG uptake in the pulmonary arteries. This observation indicates the presence of atherosclerotic plaques which are prevalent in patients with COPD. Future prospective studies with larger numbers of subjects are needed to confirm this important observation.
本研究的目的是探讨FDG-PET/CT成像检测肺动脉粥样硬化的可行性，并评估肺功能测试（PFT）结果与肺动脉整体代谢活性之间的相关性。29名年龄在57至75岁之间、有临床怀疑肺癌病史的受试者在注射FDG后3小时接受了PET/CT成像。测定了中央肺动脉分支的整体FDG摄取情况。计算了每个血管内的平均SUVmax、SUVmean以及组织与本底（TBR）的平均值和最大值。在该人群中检查了非慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）患者和COPD患者的FDG摄取程度及其与PFT的相关性。此外，将患者的结果与10名年龄匹配的对照组的结果进行了比较。基于这些数据，患者中FDG摄取程度不同的病变数量高于正常对照组。然而，非COPD患者和COPD患者之间的平均SUVmax、平均SUVmean、平均TBRmax或平均TBRmean没有统计学上的显著差异。这表明动脉粥样硬化过程是局灶性的，而非弥漫性的。虽然所生成的整体定量数据未显示COPD患者存在弥漫性动脉炎症的证据，但定性检查显示肺动脉FDG摄取局部增加的明确证据。这一观察结果表明存在动脉粥样硬化斑块，在COPD患者中普遍存在。需要未来进行更多受试者的前瞻性研究来证实这一重要观察结果。
