PET/CT use expands: Effectively diagnosing graft ...( luded (obstructed) due to disease proce...)

luded (obstructed) due to disease processesoften as a complication of diabetesdecreasing blood flow to various regions of the body and occurring more commonly in the lower limbs," said Israel. She said that prosthetic grafts are inserted to artificially restore and ensure blood circulation through the obstructed blood vessels to areas that would otherwise suffer from the lack of sufficient blood supply. "Graft infection is an uncommon but potentially severe complication following prosthetic vascular reconstruction," noted Israel. The overall frequency of this complication ranges between 0.5 to 5 percent and occurs, as a rule, a few months after surgery. Delay in treatment of an infected vascular graft can lead to life-threatening complications such as sepsis or hemorrhage, with limb amputation and death occurring in more than 50 percent of patients, she indicated. The clinical presentation is often subtle and non-specific.

PET is a highly specialized, noninvasive imaging technique that utilizes short-lived radioactive substances (such as FDG) that are taken up by normal organs and disease processes characterized by increased function and metabolism, such as cancer or infection. CT offers a detailed map of internal anatomy. "Combined PET/CT, therefore, enables both diagnosis of infection and determination of its precise localization, facilitating the diagnosis and guiding the appropriate treatment strategy," said Israel. With PET/CT, it can be determined if there is an infectious process and if it involves the vascular graft itself (requiring major surgery) or if it is limited only to the soft tissue in its vicinity, she noted.

"These initial findings encourage additional investigations on the role of PET/CT in larger patient populations with suspected vascular graft infection," said Israel. "It also opens new options for additional, previously unsought clinical applications for the use of FDG-PET/CT in other infection and inflammation processes,
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Contact: Maryann Verrillo
mverrillo@snm.org
703-652-6773
Society of Nuclear Medicine
4-Jun-2007

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