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Effects of coverage extent and slice skipping on mean and maximum arterial 18F-FDG uptake ratios in patients with carotid plaque

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effects of variable measurement methods on mean and maximum SUV ratios of 18F-FDG uptake in carotid arteries.

Methods

18F-FDG PET/CT images of 74 subjects with carotid plaque were analyzed for mean and maximum target-to-background ratio (TBR) of uptake. Agreement was analyzed between TBR scores obtained using different vessel coverage and slice skipping.

Results

Mean TBR was increased by extending coverage from common carotid artery (CCA; 1.25) to carotid artery (CA; 1.33) and inclusion of ascending aorta (CA/AA; 1.34). Maximum TBR was increased from 1.47 to 1.54 and 1.61 by respective extensions. Both mean and maximum TBR were closely correlated between vessels. ICC and Kappa statistics revealed near perfect agreement between TBR obtained using every 2 or 3 segments and that without sipping. Bland–Altman plots showed bias by slice skipping to remain small, particularly for mean TBR. Finally, high correlations were displayed between mean and maximum TBR.

Conclusions

Analysis of mean and maximum arterial 18F-FDG uptake in patients with carotid plaque is likely to benefit from extending coverage to segments above and below the CCA. The extra burden of measurement, in turn, can be lightened by skipping up to every 2 of 3 slices without compromising accuracy of results.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Sue Jin Lee MD (Aju University Hospital) for help and suggestions for ROI analysis of the data. This work was supported by the Korean Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) Grant funded by the Korea Government (# 20110018785) and the In-Sung Foundation for Medical Research Grant (C-A9-862-1).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, that might be perceived to influence the results and/or discussion reported in this article.

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Correspondence to Kyung-Han Lee.

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Noh, TS., Yoo, J., Kim, S.W. et al. Effects of coverage extent and slice skipping on mean and maximum arterial 18F-FDG uptake ratios in patients with carotid plaque. Ann Nucl Med 26, 715–722 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-012-0633-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-012-0633-0

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