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Long-term changes of aortic 18F-FDG uptake and calcification in health-screening subjects

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Abstract

Background

We investigated long-term changes in aortic 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake and calcification in health-screening subjects and their relation with atherogenic risk factors.

Methods and results

A total of 94 consecutive subjects (72 men, 22 women; age 47–85 years, mean 57.9 years) participating in a health-screening protocol were evaluated retrospectively. All subjects had follow-up PET/CT scans 3.0–5.8 years (mean 4.1 years) later. We measured 18F-FDG uptake (maximum SUV) and calcium score (Agatston score) of the ascending, descending thoracic and infrarenal abdominal aorta on PET/CT images. 18F-FDG uptake and calcium score of the whole aorta (FUWA and CSWA) increased significantly in the follow-up study compared with the initial study (p = 0.02 and p < 0.0001, respectively). Multiple regression analysis showed that the change in FUWA per year was significantly associated with visceral fat area, while the change of CSWA per year was significantly associated with age and smoking habit. The degrees of 18F-FDG uptake and calcium score increases were significantly greater in the abdominal aorta than in the thoracic aorta (p = 0.05 and p < 0.0001, respectively).

Conclusions

Our data demonstrated the longitudinal progressions of vascular inflammation and calcification of health-screening subjects. Inflammation and calcification were observed to progress significantly faster in the abdominal aorta than in the thoracic aorta. The progressions of vascular inflammation and calcification may be associated with different atherogenic risk factors.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the staff of the PET Imaging Center and Health Screening Center at Asahi General Hospital for their skillful technical support. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan

    Yoshiharu Ryu, Masashi Nakadate & Hitoshi Shibuya

  2. PET Imaging Center, Asahi General Hospital, I-1326, Asahi, Chiba, 289-2511, Japan

    Katsuya Yoshida

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Asahi General Hospital, I-1326, Asahi, Chiba, 289-2511, Japan

    Yoshifumi Suzuki

  4. Department of Radiology, Asahi General Hospital, I-1326, Asahi, Chiba, 289-2511, Japan

    Isao Umehara

  5. Clinical Research Center, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan

    Makoto Tomita

Authors
  1. Yoshiharu Ryu
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  2. Katsuya Yoshida
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  3. Yoshifumi Suzuki
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  4. Masashi Nakadate
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  5. Isao Umehara
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  6. Makoto Tomita
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  7. Hitoshi Shibuya
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katsuya Yoshida.

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Ryu, Y., Yoshida, K., Suzuki, Y. et al. Long-term changes of aortic 18F-FDG uptake and calcification in health-screening subjects. Ann Nucl Med 27, 239–246 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-012-0679-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-012-0679-z

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