J Nucl Med. 2008; 49 (Supplement 1):77P
Cardiovascular: Clinical ScienceCorrelating Structural (CT) and Nuclear Imaging Results |
Assessment of carotid FDG uptake in patients with high coronary calcium scoring (CCS)
Arthur Cho1,
Won Jun Kang1,
Hojin Cho1,
Taesung Kim1,
Mijin Yun1 and
Jongdo Lee1
1 Nuclear Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
303
Objectives: Coronary heart disease patients frequently have high prevalence of significant carotid stenosis. High CCS is associated with increased plaque burden. FDG PET can image carotid plaque and evaluate plaque vulnerability.The aim of this study was to compare CCS with FDG PET in assessing atherosclerosis.
Methods: 102 patients with coronary calcium who had FDG PET/CT scan were enrolled (M:F=70:32, 68.7±8.8 y). 20 patients without coronary calcium were selected as control (M:F=10:10, 59.1±9.6).Carotid glucose metabolism was measured by peak SUV(pSUV) on 5 sequential slices.Carotid artery location was confirmed by enhanced CT.CCS was measured using Philips Workstation using non-enhanced chest CT.
Results: CCS ranged from 0.9 to 3451(mean=420±572.2). CCS showed weak correlation with age (R2=.04, p=.02). Right carotid pSUV ranged from 0.87 to 2.91 (mean=1.61±0.36),and left ranged from 0.77 to 2.74 (mean=1.57±0.35).Aorta SUV showed range of 0.96 to 3.71 (mean: 1.91±0.45). No CCS correlation between carotid SUV or aorta SUV was seen. Patient classification according to CCS (0, 0-100, 100-400, 400-1000,1000-) were divided, and the carotid pSUV was 1.5,1.6,1.6,1.6,1.7, respectively. Carotid pSUV tended to be higher in groups with higher CCS, (p>.05). 28 of subjects had brain MR angiography, 7 had significant stenosis (CCS: 589±812.9), while 21 had patent carotid arteries(CCS:108±266.7),p=.02. pSUV of carotid arteries in stenosis group tended to be higher than that of patent group(1.7±0.52 vs. 1.54±0.26 in Rt carotid ,1.73±0.63 vs. 1.50±0.29 in Lt carotid).
Conclusions: We demonstrated that CCS and carotid FDG uptake are complementary methods in assessing atheromatous plaque.The different patterns demonstrated on PET/CT and CCS may reflect different anatomical and metabolic status in active vs. inactive atherosclerotic plaque.
