TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fröhlich, Matthias
A1  - Serfling, Sebastian
A1  - Higuchi, Takahiro
A1  - Pomper, Martin G.
A1  - Rowe, Steven P.
A1  - Schmalzing, Marc
A1  - Tony, Hans-Peter
A1  - Gernert, Michael
A1  - Strunz, Patrick-Pascal
A1  - Portegys, Jan
A1  - Schwaneck, Eva-Christina
A1  - Gadeholt, Ottar
A1  - Weich, Alexander
A1  - Buck, Andreas K.
A1  - Bley, Thorsten A.
A1  - Guggenberger, Konstanze V.
A1  - Werner, Rudolf A.
T1  - Whole-Body [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT Can Alter Diagnosis in Patients with Suspected Rheumatic Disease
JF  - Diagnostics
N2  - The 2-deoxy-d-[\(^{18}\)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is widely utilized to assess the vascular and articular inflammatory burden of patients with a suspected diagnosis of rheumatic disease. We aimed to elucidate the impact of [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT on change in initially suspected diagnosis in patients at the time of the scan. Thirty-four patients, who had undergone [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT, were enrolled and the initially suspected diagnosis prior to [18F]FDG PET/CT was compared to the final diagnosis. In addition, a semi-quantitative analysis including vessel wall-to-liver (VLR) and joint-to-liver (JLR) ratios was also conducted. Prior to [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT, 22/34 (64.7%) of patients did not have an established diagnosis, whereas in 7/34 (20.6%), polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) was suspected, and in 5/34 (14.7%), giant cell arteritis (GCA) was suspected by the referring rheumatologists. After [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT, the diagnosis was GCA in 19/34 (55.9%), combined GCA and PMR (GCA + PMR) in 9/34 (26.5%) and PMR in the remaining 6/34 (17.6%). As such, [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT altered suspected diagnosis in 28/34 (82.4%), including in all unclear cases. VLR of patients whose final diagnosis was GCA tended to be significantly higher when compared to VLR in PMR (GCA, 1.01 ± 0.08 (95%CI, 0.95–1.1) vs. PMR, 0.92 ± 0.1 (95%CI, 0.85–0.99), p = 0.07), but not when compared to PMR + GCA (1.04 ± 0.14 (95%CI, 0.95–1.13), p = 1). JLR of individuals finally diagnosed with PMR (0.94 ± 0.16, (95%CI, 0.83–1.06)), however, was significantly increased relative to JLR in GCA (0.58 ± 0.04 (95%CI, 0.55–0.61)) and GCA + PMR (0.64 ± 0.09 (95%CI, 0.57–0.71); p < 0.0001, respectively). In individuals with a suspected diagnosis of rheumatic disease, an inflammatory-directed [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT can alter diagnosis in the majority of the cases, particularly in subjects who were referred because of diagnostic uncertainty. Semi-quantitative assessment may be helpful in establishing a final diagnosis of PMR, supporting the notion that a quantitative whole-body read-out may be useful in unclear cases.
KW  - giant cell arteritis
KW  - GCA
KW  - [18F]FDG PET/CT
KW  - vasculature
KW  - inflammation
KW  - polymyalgia rheumatica
KW  - PMR
KW  - vasculitis
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-250227
SN  - 2075-4418
VL  - 11
IS  - 11
ER  -