The establishment of the quantitative method for atherosclerosis by 18F-FDG PET/CT

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K16456
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Nagasaki University
• Principal Investigator: IDEGUCHI Reiko 長崎大学, 原爆後障害医療研究所, 助教 (10457567)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 18F-FDG PET/CT / 動脈硬化 / 血管炎 / IgG4関連疾患

Outline of Final Research Achievements

18F-FDG accumulates in the tissues/lesions with increased glucose metabolism. Using this specific character of 18F-FDG, 18F-FDG PET/CT can detect lesions with increased uptake and metabolism of glucose. Increased glucose metabolism is a common character of malignancy. In recent years, 18F-FDG PET/CT is used in evaluation of inflammatory lesions.
We evaluated 18F-FDG uptake of vessel wall inflammation and tried to understand the pathology of inflammatory disease. As a result, 18F-FDG PET/CT was useful for the evaluation of vasculitis and IgG4-related disease. 18F-FDG PET/CT was able to detect minor inflammatory change without clinical evidence of involvement of aortic wall. This study also indicated that FDG uptake in spleen could reflect inflammatory change.

Free Research Field

放射線診断学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

血管に炎症を来す疾患は様々なものがあり、診断や活動性の評価は臨床的な検査のみでは時に難しい。CTやMRI、超音波検査など形態学的な評価も必要であるが18F-FDG PET/CTを撮像することで、機能的な評価が可能となる。今回の研究で血管に炎症を来す疾患の診断や病勢把握に18F-FDG PET/CTが有用であることがわかった。さらに血管のみでなく脾臓など他の臓器も炎症の程度を反映していることが示唆され、炎症本態の解明に近づくことができたと考える。