title: 18F-FDG PET/CT in the Management of Aortitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aortitis is a generic term defined as an inflammatory condition involving the aortic wall, of infectious or noninfectious origin. This inflammatory process may deteriorate the aortic wall, resulting in potentially life-threatening vascular complications. Therefore, it is important to establish a diagnosis as early as possible.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a 4-year period, 428 consecutive patients referred to our department for aortic diseases underwent FDG PET/CT examinations. Among these, 18 patients (4.2%) were suspected to have aortitis. All of them had an initial positive FDG PET/CT uptake occurring in the aorta and major branches as evaluated by visual analysis of images and assessed with the final diagnosis of aortitis. During follow-up, after surgery and/or upon immunosuppressive treatment, each of these patients underwent a second PET/CT that was compared with the initial evaluation. In all cases, normalization of FDG uptake was correlated with clinical improvement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study aimed to illustrate the potential clinical value of functional monitoring with PET/CT in the management of aortitis. FDG PET/CT constitutes a valuable imaging modality to establish an early diagnosis, monitor disease progression and treatment, and evaluate vascular complication and relapse. We highlight the importance of an early detection of inflammatory large-vessel pathology, which may represent a major threat.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital of Liège; †Surgical Research Center, GIGA-Cardiovascular Science Unit, and ‡Laboratory of Connective Tissues Biology, GIGA-R, University of Liège; Departments of §Pathology, ∥Nuclear Medicine, and ¶Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bruls
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Courtois
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nusgens
authors.forename: Jean-Olivier
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Defraigne
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Delvenne
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hustinx
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moutschen
authors.forename: Natzi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakalihasan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001025:Aortitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D001027:Aortography; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18