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Potential use of 18F-FDG-PET/CT to visualize hypermetabolism associated with muscle pain in patients with adult spinal deformity: a case report

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Abstract

Patients with adult spinal deformity (ASD) are surgically treated for pain relief; however, visualization of the exact origin of the pain with imaging modalities is still challenging. We report the first case of a 60-year-old female patient who presented with painful degenerative kyphoscoliosis and was evaluated with flourine-18-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) preoperatively. Because her low back pain was resistant to conservative treatment, she was treated with posterior spinal correction and fusion surgery from Th2 to the ilium. One year after the surgery, her low back pain had disappeared completely. In accordance with her clinical course, 18F-FDG-PET imaging revealed the uptake of 18F-FDG in the paravertebral muscles preoperatively and showed the complete absence of uptake at 1 year after surgery. The uptake site coincided with the convex part of each curve of the lumbar spine and was thought to be the result of the increased activity of paravertebral muscles due to their chronic stretched state in the kyphotic posture. This case report suggests the possibility of using 18F-FDG-PET/CT to visualize increased activity in paravertebral muscles and the ensuing pain in ASD patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The University of Tokyo Hospital, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Yuki Taniguchi

  2. Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Miwako Takahashi & Toshimitsu Momose

  3. Department of Medical Research and Management for Musculoskeletal Pain, 22nd Century Medical & Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Ko Matsudaira & Hiroyuki Oka

Authors
  1. Yuki Taniguchi
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  2. Miwako Takahashi
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  3. Ko Matsudaira
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  4. Hiroyuki Oka
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  5. Toshimitsu Momose
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Correspondence to Yuki Taniguchi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study, or the findings specified in this paper.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Taniguchi, Y., Takahashi, M., Matsudaira, K. et al. Potential use of 18F-FDG-PET/CT to visualize hypermetabolism associated with muscle pain in patients with adult spinal deformity: a case report. Skeletal Radiol 45, 1577–1581 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-016-2464-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-016-2464-x

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