Angiologie: Offener Zugang
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Abstrakt

18F-FDG-PET/CT Plays a Key Role in Formulating Treatment Strategies for Takayasu Arteritis

Qing Han, Xiang Zhou, Jie Han, Jin Ding, Fei Kang, Kui Zhang, Junfeng Jia, Qiang Liang, Zhaohui Zheng, Jing Wang, Ping Zhu

Objective: Compare the clinical data and ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging results of patients with Takayasu Arteritis (TAK) with active disease or who are in clinical remission.

Methods: Forty TAK patients (8 with active disease, 32 in remission) were studied. Intravenous ¹⁸F-FDG was administered for imaging, and increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake was considered positive.

Results: All patients in both groups tested positive for TAK based on ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging. The active disease group had a higher TAK NIH score, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR), and level of C Reactive Protein (CRP) (all P<0.001), but the two groups had similar sex ratios, age, and disease duration. Quantitative analysis of changes in the mean standard uptake value (SUV_mean) and the maximum SUV (SUV_max) of 40 patients when they had active disease and when they were in clinical remission showed there was an insignificant decrease in SUV_max (2.16 ± 0.46 vs. 2.08 ± 0.49, P=0.56) and an insignificant increase of SUV_mean (2.34 ± 0.57 vs. 2.42 ± 0.81, P=0.46). However, the arterial SUV_max was higher in patients with active disease than in those with clinical remission (P<0.001). Overall, 27 patients (68%) had a SUV_max of 2.0 or more and 13 (32.5%) had an SUV_max below 2.0. There were no correlations of the imaging results with the type of treatment, time since remission, or laboratory parameters.

Conclusion: The criteria for clinical remission from TAK were not entirely consistent with the actual vascular inflammatory activity based on ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT can play an important role in monitoring the clinical and radiographic remission of patients with TAK.