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Evaluation and comparison of 11C-choline uptake and calcification in aortic and common carotid arterial walls with combined PET/CT

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Inflamed atherosclerotic plaques may rupture and cause acute myocardial infarction, stroke and other thrombotic events. Early detection of these unstable plaques could, in many cases, prevent such potentially fatal events. 11C-choline or 18F-labelled choline derivatives for visualizing the synthesis of phospholipids, are promising markers of plaque inflammation with potential advantages over 18F-FDG. Their potential for plaque characterization in humans is, however, unclear. In this study the prevalence and distribution of 11C-choline uptake in the aortic and common carotid arterial walls of elderly male patients was evaluated with combined PET/CT. Additionally, the localization of radiotracer uptake and calcification was correlated in various vessel segments.

Methods

Image data from 93 consecutive male patients between 60 and 80 years old who had undergone whole-body 11C-choline PET/CT assessment for prostate cancer were evaluated retrospectively. 11C-choline uptake and calcification were analysed qualitatively and semiquantitatively and compared.

Results

11C-choline uptake was found in 95% of patients, calcification in 94% throughout all vessel segments. In 6% of the patients radiotracer uptake was colocalized with calcifications, whereas less than 1% of calcification sites showed increased radiotracer uptake.

Conclusion

Both 11C-choline uptake and calcification in the aortic and common carotid arterial walls are common in elderly men. Radiotracer uptake and calcification are, however, only rarely colocalized. 11C-choline has the potential to provide information about atherosclerotic plaques independent of calcification measurement.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Sonderforschungsbereich 656 Münster (projects C 2 and PM 3).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Katsuhiko Kato, Otmar Schober, Peter Kies & Lars Stegger

  2. Department of Radiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Katsuhiko Kato, Takeo Ishigaki & Shinji Naganawa

  3. Department of Radiological Technology, Nagoya University School of Health Sciences, Nagoya, Japan

    Katsuhiko Kato & Mitsuru Ikeda

  4. European Institute of Molecular Imaging, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Michael Schäfers

Authors
  1. Katsuhiko Kato
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  2. Otmar Schober
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  3. Mitsuru Ikeda
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  5. Takeo Ishigaki
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  8. Lars Stegger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lars Stegger.

Additional information

Katsuhiko Kato and Lars Stegger contributed equally to this work.

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Kato, K., Schober, O., Ikeda, M. et al. Evaluation and comparison of 11C-choline uptake and calcification in aortic and common carotid arterial walls with combined PET/CT. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 36, 1622–1628 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-009-1152-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-009-1152-7

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