Abstract
Introduction: The visualisation of hypermetabolic brown adipose tissue (BAT) on 18F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) lowers the efficacy of PET and is linked with the environmental temperature of the patient prior to presentation. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of thermal control on BAT and 18F-FDG PET.
Method: 300 patients undergoing 18F-FDG PET were defined by one of two groups. Group A consisted of 150 consecutive patients from August to October 2009 (Spring). Group B consisted of 150 consecutive patients from December to February 2010 (Summer). In addition to normal preparation, Group B received instruction to dress warmly and were warmed during the uptake period of their scan. Images were assessed for the presence of BAT. Standard uptake value (SUV) data was collected and compared.
Results: BAT was present in 9.3% of patients. 15.3% of patients that were not warmed (Group A) demonstrated BAT which was reduced to 3.3% in the group that underwent warming (Group B) (P = 0.0005). BAT was more common in men (10.9%) than women (6.8%), and females responded better to warming. Younger patients were more likely to demonstrate BAT (P < 0.001). No signifi cant relationship between BAT and height, weight or body mass index (BMI) was found. The most common site for BAT visualisation was the cervical region (89%), followed by supraclavicular (75%), paraver-tebral (50%), suprarenal (21%) and para-aortic (7%).
Conclusion: Thermal control and reduction of BAT is achievable with reduction in the incidence of BAT by 78%. The reduction of BAT on PET reduces false positive and false negative results and eliminates the need for rescanning.
Method: 300 patients undergoing 18F-FDG PET were defined by one of two groups. Group A consisted of 150 consecutive patients from August to October 2009 (Spring). Group B consisted of 150 consecutive patients from December to February 2010 (Summer). In addition to normal preparation, Group B received instruction to dress warmly and were warmed during the uptake period of their scan. Images were assessed for the presence of BAT. Standard uptake value (SUV) data was collected and compared.
Results: BAT was present in 9.3% of patients. 15.3% of patients that were not warmed (Group A) demonstrated BAT which was reduced to 3.3% in the group that underwent warming (Group B) (P = 0.0005). BAT was more common in men (10.9%) than women (6.8%), and females responded better to warming. Younger patients were more likely to demonstrate BAT (P < 0.001). No signifi cant relationship between BAT and height, weight or body mass index (BMI) was found. The most common site for BAT visualisation was the cervical region (89%), followed by supraclavicular (75%), paraver-tebral (50%), suprarenal (21%) and para-aortic (7%).
Conclusion: Thermal control and reduction of BAT is achievable with reduction in the incidence of BAT by 78%. The reduction of BAT on PET reduces false positive and false negative results and eliminates the need for rescanning.
Original language | English |
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Article number | P22 |
Pages (from-to) | 24-24 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Journal | Internal Medicine Journal |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | Supplement 3 |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2012 |