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Cardiovascular: Clinical ScienceClinical Science Posters |
1 Dept. of Nuclear Medicine; 2 Dept. of Internal Medicine II; 3 Dept. of Radiology, Tuebingen University Medical School, Tuebingen, Germany
850
Objectives: To assess the effect of glucocorticosteroid medication (GLUC) in pts. with VASC on FDG-uptake measured by PET/CT and on the detection of active vasculitis.
Methods: 21 pts. with suspected/known VASC (7 without (GLUC-), 14 under treatment with glucocorticosteroids (GLUC+), and 20 controls with excluded tumour (CONT) were analyzed. Arterial wall uptake was scored visually from 0 (not visible) to 3 (> liver). FDG-Uptake was calculated for 7 regions (aorta, smaller arteries): SUV, vessel/liver-ratio (VL-R), or vessel/bloodpool-ratio (VB-R). Active VASC was assumed, if wall uptake was > mean + 2SD of CONT. To characterize GLUC+ vs. GLUC-, the means in all arterial regions and the numbers of pathological regions were compared.
Results: In GLUC+ the means of the VL-R and VB-R were significantly lower than in GLUC- (VL-R: 0.8+/-0.2 vs. 1.0+/-0.2, p<0.05; BP-R: 1.2+/-0.2 vs. 1.5+/-0.4, p<0.01), SUV, score, and number of pathological regions did not differ significantly. On a per patient basis, active VASC was less often detectable in GLUC+ than in GLUC-, except for the VL-R (SUV: 50% vs. 71%; VL-R: 86% vs. 86%; VB-R: 57% vs. 100%; score: 71% vs. 86% of pts.). In pts. with elevated CRP a pathological PET was less often found in GLUC- compared to GLUC+ (SUV: 50% vs. 71%, VL-R: 90% vs. 86%; VB-R: 60% vs. 100%; score: 80% vs. 86% of pts.).
Conclusions: In pts. treated with GLUC, arterial wall uptake (VL-R, VB-R, score) is lower compared to pts. without GLUC causing a lower detection rate for active VASC except for VL-R. Thus, quantification using VL-R is recommended for monitoring pts. with VASC.
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