title: [Positron emission tomography in inflammatory disorders].
abstract: Value of positron emission tomography (PET) applied to the metabolic evaluation of inflammatory disorders is increasingly recognized. PET with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has now taken the place occupied by citrate of Gallium-67 in this domain, in which it has several advantages compared to other diagnostic imaging methods such as scintigraphy with labelled leucocytes. Visualization of inflammatory lesions does not just rely on the presence of immune cells. Uptake of the tracer actually requires the activation of these immune cells, an important point to consider to adequately interpreting PET imaging in this context. For systemic inflammatory disorders, FDG-PET has the advantage to provide whole body evaluation. This advantage, combined to the fact that the tracer used reveals infectious, non-infectious inflammatory diseases on one hand, and malignant diseases on the other hand, is crucial for the etiologic diagnosis of fever of unknown origin. Various chronic infectious diseases that are frequent clinical challenges are better diagnosed with the use of PET, particularly when this imaging method is combined with X-ray computed tomography (CT). Such infectious diseases are osteomyelitis, infection of orthopaedic and vascular prostheses, and infectious diseases with systemic distribution such as tuberculosis. For what concerns noninfectious inflammatory diseases, FDG-PET has proved particularly helpful for the diagnosis and management of large vessels arteritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
authors.affiliation: Service de Médecine nucléaire et Unité TEP/Cyclotron Biomédical, Hôpital Erasme, Bruxelles. sgoldman@ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18