title: Efficacy of heparin loading during an 18F-FDG PET/CT examination to search for cardiac sarcoidosis activity.
abstract: A 65-year-old woman with a complete atrioventricular block was diagnosed as having cardiac sarcoidosis. (18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging without unfractionated heparin loading revealed systemic abnormal uptake indicating sarcoidosis. However, the cardiac lesions were vague because of the physiological FDG uptake. One month later, (18)F-FDG PET/CT using heparin loading was performed to evaluate the lesion activity prior to the start of steroid administration. (18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging with heparin loading showed the cardiac lesions more clearly and suppressed the FDG uptake in normal myocardium. Heparin loading during FDG PET/CT may be useful for detecting cardiac involvement in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis.
authors: Department of Radiology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan. itoukimiteru@yahoo.co.jp
authors: Kimiteru
authors: K
authors: Ito
authors: Miyako
authors: M
authors: Morooka
authors: Osamu
authors: O
authors: Okazaki
authors: Ryogo
authors: R
authors: Minaminoto
authors: Kazuo
authors: K
authors: Kubota
authors: Michiaki
authors: M
authors: Hiroe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006493:Heparin / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006493:Heparin