title: Usefulness of whole-body fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in patients with large-vessel vasculitis: a systematic review.
abstract: The objective of this study is to systematically review the role of positron emission tomography (PET) and PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in patients with large-vessel vasculitis (LVV). A comprehensive literature search of published studies through April 2011 in PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus databases regarding whole-body FDG-PET and PET/CT in patients with LVV was performed. We identified 32 studies including 604 LVV patients. The main findings of these studies are presented. The conclusions are the following: (1) FDG-PET and PET/CT are useful imaging methods in the initial diagnosis and in the assessment of activity and extent of disease in patients with LVV; (2) the correlation between FDG-PET findings and serological levels of inflammatory markers, as well as the usefulness of FDG-PET and PET/CT in evaluating treatment response, remains unclear; (3) it appears that there is a superiority of FDG-PET and PET/CT over conventional imaging methods in the diagnosis of LVV, but not in assessing disease activity under immunosuppressive treatment, in predicting relapse or in evaluating vascular complications; and (4) given the heterogeneity between studies with regard to PET analysis and diagnostic criteria, a standardization of the technique is needed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography Centre, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo Gemelli 8, Rome, 00168, Italy. giorgiomednuc@libero.it
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Treglia
authors.forename: Maria Vittoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Mattoli
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leccisotti
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferraccioli
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giordano
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18