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Myocardial imaging with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in sarcoidosis

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite accumulating reports on the clinical value of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the assessment of cardiac sarcoidosis, no studies have systematically compared the images of these modalities.

Methods

Twenty-one consecutive patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis underwent cardiac examinations that included 18F-FDG PET and MRI. The association of 18F-FDG PET and MRI findings with blood sampling data such as serum angiotensin converting enzyme levels was also evaluated.

Results

Eight of 21 patients were diagnosed as having cardiac sarcoidosis according to the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare Guidelines for Diagnosing Cardiac Sarcoidosis. Sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing cardiac sarcoidosis were 87.5 and 38.5%, respectively, for 18F-FDG PET, and 75 and 76.9%, respectively, for MRI. When the 18F-FDG PET and MRI images were compared, 16 of 21 patients showed positive findings in one (n = 8) or both (n = 8) of the two modalities. In eight patients with positive findings on both images, the distribution of the findings differed among all eight cases. The presence of positive findings on 18F-FDG PET was associated with elevated serum angiotensin-converting enzyme levels; this association was not demonstrated on MRI.

Conclusions

Both 18F-FDG PET and MRI provided high sensitivity for diagnosing cardiac sarcoidosis in patients with suspected cardiac involvement, but the specificity of 18F-FDG PET was not as high as previously reported. The different distributions of the findings in the two modalities suggest the potential of 18F-FDG PET and MRI in detecting different pathological processes in the heart.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Akihito Tsuchida, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Sapporo Testudo (JR) Hospital for providing the patients with sarcoidosis suspected of having cardiac involvement.

Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest exists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Department of Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, N15, W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8638, Japan

    Hiroshi Ohira, Ichizo Tsujino, Shinji Ishimaru, Shinji Sakaue & Masaharu Nishimura

  2. Department of Radiology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Noriko Oyama

  3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Toshiki Takei, Eriko Tsukamoto & Nagara Tamaki

  4. Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Masatake Miura

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  1. Hiroshi Ohira
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Correspondence to Ichizo Tsujino.

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Ohira, H., Tsujino, I., Ishimaru, S. et al. Myocardial imaging with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in sarcoidosis. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 35, 933–941 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-007-0650-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-007-0650-8

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