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Evaluation of Flap Tissue Viability by F-18 FDG PET/CT

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Abstract

A 60-year-old man underwent vertical rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap to reconstruct a left lateral chest wall defect. For assessment of viability of muscle flap, F-18 fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) was performed 15 days after surgery. The FDG PET/CT showed a small metabolic defect in the left lateral chest wall. During follow-up, necrotic change of the graft was observed, and the site was in accordance with the area where the metabolic defect was observed in the FDG PET/CT. As a result, debridement and wound closure was performed. This case suggested that the FDG PET/CT should be a useful method for the monitoring of muscle viability after flap surgery.

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Conflict of Interest

Inki Lee, Seo Young Kang, Chan-Yeong Heo, Ho-Young Lee and Sang Eun Kim declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. The study design and exemption of informed consent were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 82, Gumi-Ro 173 Beon-Gil, Bundang-Gu, Seongnam-Si, Gyeonggi-Do, 463-707, Korea

    Inki Lee, Seo Young Kang, Ho-Young Lee & Sang Eun Kim

  2. Department of Plastic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam-Si, Korea

    Chan-Yeong Heo

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  1. Inki Lee
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  2. Seo Young Kang
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  3. Chan-Yeong Heo
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  4. Ho-Young Lee
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Correspondence to Ho-Young Lee.

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Lee, I., Kang, S.Y., Heo, CY. et al. Evaluation of Flap Tissue Viability by F-18 FDG PET/CT. Nucl Med Mol Imaging 48, 241–243 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-014-0278-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-014-0278-0

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