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18F-Sodium fluoride uptake is associated with severity of atherosclerotic stenosis in stable ischemic heart disease

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Nuclear Cardiology Aims and scope

Abstract

Background

Increased uptake of 18F-Sodium fluoride (18F-NaF) PET has potential to identify atherosclerotic plaques that are vulnerable to rupture. Whether 18F-NaF PET can evaluate the significance of atherosclerotic plaque in patients with stable coronary artery disease is less clear. We evaluated 18F-NaF PET uptake in coronary arteries in patients without acute coronary artery syndrome to determine the association of 18F-NaF signal uptake with severity of coronary stenosis.

Methods and Results

We retrospectively identified 114 patients who received both regadenoson stress 82Rb myocardial perfusion PET and 18F-NaF PET study with an average interval of 5 months. Out of this cohort, forty-one patients underwent invasive coronary angiography. In a patient-based analysis, patients with ischemic regadenoson stress 82Rb PET had significantly higher coronary 18F-NaF uptake than patients with normal myocardial perfusion (P < .01). Among the 41 patients who underwent coronary angiography, per-vessel 18F-NaF uptake in both obstructive and nonobstructive coronary arteries was significantly higher than in normal coronary arteries (P < .05) regardless of the severity of coronary calcification. There was poor correlation between calcification and 18F-NaF uptake in coronary arteries (r = 0.41)

Conclusion

Coronary arterial 18F-NaF uptake is associated with coronary stenosis severity in patients with stable coronary artery disease. 18F-NaF PET studies may be useful for characterizing coronary atherosclerotic plaques.

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Abbreviations

CAC:

Coronary artery calcification

18F-NaF:

18F-Sodium fluoride

PET:

Positron emission tomography

CT:

Computed tomography

MPI:

Myocardial perfusion imaging

MR:

Magnetic resonance

82Rb:

82Rubidium

SUV:

Standardized uptake value

SD:

Standard deviation

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Author Contributions

Study design (KLN, YL), data collection (AH), data review and analysis (AH, GRB, KLN, YL), statistical analysis (AH, YL), wrote the initial draft (AH), revised and critically edit the manuscript for intellectual content (all authors), approved the manuscript (all authors)

Disclosure

Artineh Hayrapetian, Gholam R. Berenji, Kim-Lien Nguyen, and Yuxin Li have no pertinent conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90073, USA

    Artineh Hayrapetian MD, Gholam R. Berenji MD, Kim-Lien Nguyen MD & Yuxin Li MD, PhD

  2. Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

    Artineh Hayrapetian MD

  3. Divsion of Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

    Kim-Lien Nguyen MD

  4. Department of Cardiology, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Kim-Lien Nguyen MD

Authors
  1. Artineh Hayrapetian MD
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  2. Gholam R. Berenji MD
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  3. Kim-Lien Nguyen MD
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  4. Yuxin Li MD, PhD
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Correspondence to Yuxin Li MD, PhD.

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Funding

Dr. Nguyen is supported by grants from the American Heart Association (18TPA34170049) and the Veterans Affairs Clinical Research and Development council (VA-MERIT I01-CX001901). Dr. Li is supported by the Veterans Affairs Clinical Research and Development council (VA-MERIT I01-CX001901).

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Hayrapetian, A., Berenji, G.R., Nguyen, KL. et al. 18F-Sodium fluoride uptake is associated with severity of atherosclerotic stenosis in stable ischemic heart disease. J. Nucl. Cardiol. 28, 3058–3066 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-020-02238-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-020-02238-6

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