RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Excessive Aortic Inflammation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An 18F-FDG PET Pilot Study JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO J Nucl Med FD Society of Nuclear Medicine SP 1357 OP 1360 DO 10.2967/jnumed.110.075903 VO 51 IS 9 A1 James M. Coulson A1 James H.F. Rudd A1 James M. Duckers A1 John I.S. Rees A1 Dennis J. Shale A1 Charlotte E. Bolton A1 John R. Cockcroft YR 2010 UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/51/9/1357.abstract AB Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients exhibit increased cardiovascular risk, even after controlling for smoking. Inflammation may underlie this observation. Methods: We measured vascular inflammation in both COPD patients and controls using 18F-FDG PET/CT. Aortic inflammation was expressed as the target-to-background ratio (TBR) of the standardized uptake value in 7 COPD patients, 5 metabolic syndrome patients, and 7 ex-smokers. Results: Abdominal aortic mean TBR (±SD) was greater in COPD patients than in ex-smoker controls (1.60 ± 0.13 vs. 1.34 ± 0.15, P = 0.0001). Aortic arch and abdominal aorta mean TBRs were higher in metabolic syndrome patients than in COPD patients (aortic arch, 1.80 ± 0.18 vs. 1.53 ± 0.18, P = 0.001, and abdominal aorta, 1.71 ± 0.14 vs. 1.60 ± 0.13, P = 0.001). Conclusion: COPD patients exhibited aortic inflammation that fell between the aortic inflammation exhibited by ex-smokers and that by metabolic syndrome patients. This may in part explain the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in COPD patients.