Park Peter Sang Uk, Raynor William Y, Khurana Navpreet, Sun Yusha, Werner Thomas J, Høilund-Carlsen Poul Flemming, Alavi Abass, Revheim Mona-Elisabeth
Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2022 Jun;12(6):3314-3324. doi: 10.21037/qims-21-1174.
Cervical spondylosis is the degeneration of cervical spine often associated with aging and neck pain. As the degenerative changes are coupled with altered osteoblastic activity, imaging modalities sensitive to such molecular changes could be valuable for clinical assessment, disease prophylaxis, and monitoring early therapy response. In this study, we examined the role of F-sodium fluoride-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-NaF-PET/CT) in detecting age-associated changes in the cervical spine of an adult population with broad age spectrum.
In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we analyzed F-NaF-PET/CT scans of 88 control volunteers (43 females, 45 males) with age ranging from 21 to 75 years (mean =44.6, standard deviation, 14.0) divided into younger (21-45 years) and older (46-75 years) age groups. A semi-automated global assessment technique was used to measure F-NaF uptake in C2-C4 and C5-C7 vertebrae of the subjects. Furthermore, a CT-based scoring system was devised to measure the degree of structural degeneration.
There was a significant difference in F-NaF uptake of the younger and older groups at the C5-C7 vertebrae for both females (younger: mean =4.13, 95% CI: 3.72-4.55; older: mean = 4.80, 95% CI: 4.40-5.20; P=0.005) and males (younger: mean =3.66, 95% CI: 3.24-4.09; older: mean =4.22, 95% CI: 3.80-4.64; P=0.009), but not at the C2-C4 vertebrae. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the degree of degeneration and F-NaF uptake at both C2-C4 and C5-C7 spinal segments of both sexes.
Aging is associated with increased F-NaF uptake in the cervical spine, which may be associated with osteoblastic activity coupled with degeneration. Our study alludes to the potential role of F-NaF-PET/CT in evaluating age-related degeneration and osteoarthritis of the spine.
颈椎病是颈椎的退变，常与衰老和颈部疼痛相关。由于退变改变与成骨细胞活性改变相关，对这种分子变化敏感的成像方式对于临床评估、疾病预防和监测早期治疗反应可能具有重要价值。在本研究中，我们探讨了氟-氟化钠-正电子发射断层扫描/计算机断层扫描（F-NaF-PET/CT）在检测具有广泛年龄谱的成年人群颈椎年龄相关变化中的作用。
在这项回顾性横断面研究中，我们分析了88名对照志愿者（43名女性，45名男性）的F-NaF-PET/CT扫描结果，年龄范围为21至75岁（平均=44.6，标准差14.0），分为年轻组（21-45岁）和老年组（46-75岁）。采用半自动整体评估技术测量受试者C2-C4和C5-C7椎体的F-NaF摄取。此外，设计了一种基于CT的评分系统来测量结构退变程度。
女性（年轻组：平均=4.13，95%可信区间：3.72-4.55；老年组：平均=4.80，95%可信区间：4.40-5.20；P=0.005）和男性（年轻组：平均=3.66，95%可信区间：3.24-4.09；老年组：平均=4.22，95%可信区间：3.80-4.64；P=0.009）在C5-C7椎体的F-NaF摄取上，年轻组和老年组存在显著差异，但在C2-C4椎体上无差异。此外，在两性的C2-C4和C5-C7脊柱节段，退变程度与F-NaF摄取之间均呈正相关。
衰老与颈椎F-NaF摄取增加有关，这可能与成骨细胞活性及退变相关。我们的研究暗示了F-NaF-PET/CT在评估脊柱年龄相关退变和骨关节炎中的潜在作用。
