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Assessment of atherosclerotic plaque calcification using F18-NaF PET-CT

  • Original Article
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Journal of Nuclear Cardiology Aims and scope

Abstract

Background

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the uptake of F18-NaF by the arterial wall in patients with high cardiovascular (CV) risk profile. The tracer uptake was assessed in relation to gender and the number of CV risk factors.

Methods and Results

25 patients without known CV disease were included and evaluated by PET-CT with F18-NaF: 14 (56%) men and 11 (44%) women. The mean target-to-background ratio (TBR: max SUV/mean blood-pool SUV) but not the corrected uptake per lesion (CUL: max SUV – mean blood-pool SUV) was higher in men than women (TBR: 1.8 ± 0.6 vs 1.7 ± 0.2; P = 0.04; CUL: 0.7 ± 0.3 vs W 0.6 ± 0.1; P = 0.4). Patients with >3 CV risk factors had higher CUL (0.8 ± 0.1 vs 0.6 ± 0.2; P = 0.01) but not TBR (1.8 ± 0.2 vs 1.7 ± 0.6; P = 0.7) than patients with <3 risk factors.

Conclusions

The TBR but not CUL is higher in men than women while the CUL but not TBR is related to the number of CV risk factors. These results are hypothesis—generating and require validation in larger studies.

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Abbreviations

CT:

Computed tomography

CV:

Cardiovascular

CUL:

Corrected uptake per lesion

F18-FDG:

Fluorine-18 fluoro-deoxy-glucose

F18-NaF:

Fluorine-18 sodium fluoride

PET:

Positron emission computed tomography

ROI:

Region of interest

SUV:

Standardized uptake value

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Disclosure

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICNAS (Instituto de Ciências Nucleares Aplicadas à Saúde), Coimbra, Portugal

    Maria João Vidigal Ferreira MD, PhD, Rodolfo Silva MD, Andreia Gomes, Nuno Ferreira PhD, Antero Abrunhosa PhD, João Lima MD, PhD & Miguel Castelo-Branco MD, PhD

  2. Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Maria João Vidigal Ferreira MD, PhD, João Lima MD, PhD, Lino Gonçalves MD, PhD & Miguel Castelo-Branco MD, PhD

  3. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (Serviço de Cardiologia – pólo HUC), Coimbra, Portugal

    Maria João Vidigal Ferreira MD, PhD, Manuel Oliveira-Santos MD & Mariano Pego MD

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  1. Maria João Vidigal Ferreira MD, PhD
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  2. Manuel Oliveira-Santos MD
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  3. Rodolfo Silva MD
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Correspondence to Maria João Vidigal Ferreira MD, PhD.

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Ferreira, M.J.V., Oliveira-Santos, M., Silva, R. et al. Assessment of atherosclerotic plaque calcification using F18-NaF PET-CT. J. Nucl. Cardiol. 25, 1733–1741 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-016-0776-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-016-0776-9

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