title: Hepatic FDG Uptake is not Associated with Hepatic Steatosis but with Visceral Fat Volume in Cancer Screening.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to evaluate the relation between visceral fat volume and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake of the liver measured by maximum or mean standardized uptake value.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed 96 consecutive records of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) performed for cancer screening between May 2011 and December 2011. Subjects were divided into 2 groups according to Hounsfield unit (HU) of the liver comparing with that of the spleen. The control group (20 women, 56 men) demonstrating HU of the liver equal or greater than that of the spleen included 76 patients, while the fatty liver group (2 women, 18 men) showing HU of the liver less than that of the spleen included 20 patients. We compared FDG uptake of the liver and visceral fat volume between two groups. We evaluated correlation of hepatic FDG uptake measured by maximum or mean standardized uptake value (SUV) with visceral fat volume and attenuation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The fatty liver disease group showed higher aspartate aminotransferase (AST)of (24.42 ± 7.22, p = 0.012), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of (25.16 ± 11.68, p = 0.001), body mass index (BMI) of (24.58 ± 3.29, p = 0.021), and visceral fat volume (3063.53 ± 1561.43, p = 0.011) than the control group. There were no statistically significant differences of mean standardized uptake value of the liver (liver SUVmean) (2.73 ± 0.19, p = 0.723), maximum standardized uptake value of the liver (liver SUVmax) (3.39 ± 0.53, p = 0.8248) and liver SUVmean/spleen SUVmean (1.13 ± 0.10, p = 0.081) between the two groups. Strong correlations were shown between liver SUVmean and BMI (r = 0.609, p < 0.001) and between liver SUVmean and visceral fat volume (r = 0.457, p < 0.001). Liver SUVmax was also strongly correlated with BMI (r = 0.622, p = 0.001) and visceral fat volume (r = 0.547, p < 0.001). There was no significant association of mean attenuation value of the liver (liver HUmean) with liver SUVmean (r = -0.003, p = 0.979) or liver SUVmax (r = -0.120, p = 0.244).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hepatic FDG uptake quantified as SUVmean or SUVmax is not correlated with hepatic steatosis but with visceral fat volume in cancer screening.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10, Ami-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea 602-739.
authors.forename: Kyoungjune
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pak
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10, Ami-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea 602-739.
authors.forename: Seong-Jang
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10, Ami-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea 602-739.
authors.forename: In Joo
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10, Ami-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea 602-739.
authors.forename: Keunyoung
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10, Ami-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea 602-739.
authors.forename: Heeyoung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10, Ami-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea 602-739.
authors.forename: So Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Liver; Positron-emission tomography; Visceral fat