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Assessment of atherosclerosis in large vessel walls: A comprehensive review of FDG-PET/CT image acquisition protocols and methods for uptake quantification

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Journal of Nuclear Cardiology Aims and scope

Abstract

There is growing evidence showing the importance of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in the evaluation of vessel wall inflammation and atherosclerosis. Although this imaging modality has been increasingly used, there are various methods for image acquisition and evaluating FDG uptake activity in the vessel walls and atherosclerotic lesions, including qualitative visual scaling, semi-quantitative, and quantitative evaluations. Using each of these image acquisition protocols and measurement methods may result in different findings. In this review, we are going to describe the various image acquisition methods and common measurement strategies reflected in the literature and discuss their advantages and flaws.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Saeid Gholami MD, Ali Salavati MD, MPH, Sina Houshmand MD, Thomas J. Werner MSE & Abass Alavi MD, MD (Hon), PhD (Hon), DSc (Hon)

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  1. Saeid Gholami MD
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  2. Ali Salavati MD, MPH
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  3. Sina Houshmand MD
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  4. Thomas J. Werner MSE
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  5. Abass Alavi MD, MD (Hon), PhD (Hon), DSc (Hon)
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Correspondence to Saeid Gholami MD.

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See related editorial, doi:10.1007/s12350-015-0112-9.

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Gholami, S., Salavati, A., Houshmand, S. et al. Assessment of atherosclerosis in large vessel walls: A comprehensive review of FDG-PET/CT image acquisition protocols and methods for uptake quantification. J. Nucl. Cardiol. 22, 468–479 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-015-0069-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-015-0069-8

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