title: Using 18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography in detecting infectious endocarditis/endoarteritis: a preliminary report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the effectiveness of positron emission tomography (PET) with 18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) in the detection of infectious endocarditis/endoarteritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this study, we recruited 6 patients (4 women, 2 men; age range, 35 - 78 years; mean age, 55.8 +/- 16.8 years) who were clinically diagnosed as having infective endocarditis/endoarteritis by their echocardiographic findings and by Duke criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For all 6 patients, we also found increased FDG uptakes in the corresponding areas detected in echocardiography.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FDG-PET appears to be a promising tool in diagnosing infective endocarditis/endoarteritis, and further prospective studies on a large scale to fully exploit the usefulness of FDG-PET for infective endocarditis/endoarteritis are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, No. 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei 10016, Taiwan. rfyen@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Ruoh-Fang
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Yee-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yen-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Mei-Hsiu
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Shan-Chwen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001167:Arteritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000382:microbiology; D004452:Echocardiography; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D010865:Pilot Projects; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18