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Anemia and PET imaging

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A Correction to this article was published on 23 August 2021

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Abstract

Aim

Anemia is a blood disorder characterized by reduced Hemoglobin concentration and/or red blood cells numbers. Most common causes of anemia are iron deficiency anemia and anemia of chronic disease (anemia of chronic inflammation), but there is a long list of conditions which cause anemia. Bone marrow (BM), spleen, and liver are the main organs but various other tissues are also involved depending on the type of anemia. In this article, we aimed to review the role of PET imaging in anemia.

Methods

Normal BM, typical and atypical forms of hematopoiesis, pathogenesis of various forms of anemia, and PET findings in anemia with various radiotracers such as 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose, 18F-fluorothymidine, 52Fe compounds and 18F-sodium fluoride were reviewed.

Results

In cases with anemia PET can help in determining the extent of BM expansion, distribution of BM, detecting proliferative activity of BM and BM islands in acellular BM on iliac biopsy, guiding BM biopsies, detecting typical or atypical extramedullary hematopoiesis, acute BM infarctions and various other complications such as osteomyelitis, cerebral infarction and infarction in various other tissues. Anemia-related PET findings can mimic tumor/metastases.

Conclusion

PET imaging is useful for assessing various types of anemia. It is also important to be aware of anemia-related PET findings to avoid mistaking them for malignancy or metastases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine and Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, PO Box 24923, 13110, Safat, Kuwait

    Ismet Sarikaya

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, Jabriya, Kuwait

    Ali Baqer

  3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey

    Ali Sarikaya

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  1. Ismet Sarikaya
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  2. Ali Baqer
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  3. Ali Sarikaya
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Correspondence to Ismet Sarikaya.

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The original online version of this article was revised: In this article the reference numbers in the figure captions 2, 6 and 7 were incorrect. Reference numbers are 41, 59 and 61 for figures 2, 6 and 7, respectively.

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Sarikaya, I., Baqer, A. & Sarikaya, A. Anemia and PET imaging. Clin Transl Imaging 9, 499–509 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-021-00442-z

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