The Clinical Impact of Using 18F-FDG-PET/CT in the Diagnosis of Suspected Vasculitis: The Effect of Dose and Timing of Glucocorticoid Treatment
Table 1
Final clinical diagnosis and significance of PET/CT by each diagnosis.
Category
Number of cases
Clinically significant PET/CT finding
Other autoimmune diseases
18
10/18
Adult-onset Still’s disease
3
0/3
Sarcoidosis
2
1/2
Collagenosis
2
2/2
Pericarditis
2
1/2
Morbus Crohn/IBD
2
1/2
Myositis
2
2/2
SLE
2
1/2
Unspecified
2
1/2
Rheumatoid arthritis
1
1/1
Large vessel vasculitis
14
9/14
Giant cell arteritis
13
9
Takayasu arteritis
1
0
Infection
12
8/12
Infection NAS/FUO
3
2/3
Deep abscess
3
2/3
Septic arthritis
1
1/1
Septic spondylodiscitis
1
1/1
Pneumonia
1
1/1
Urinary tract infection
1
0/1
Cholecystitis
1
1/1
Tuberculosis
1
0/1
Unspecified vasculitis
10
2/10
Vasculitis NAS
8
2
Secondary vasculitis
2
0
Small- and medium-sized vasculitis (other than ANCA-associated vasculitis)
8
7/8
ANCA-associated vasculitis
6
3/6
EGPA
3
1/3
GPA
2
2/2
MPA
1
0/1
Polymyalgia rheumatica
5
2/5
Malignancy
4
3/4
Lymphoma
3
2/3
Lung cancer
1
1/1
Miscellaneous
4
1/4
Cardiac disease
2
0/2
Calciphylaxis
1
0/1
Leg ulcers
1
1/1
Unknown diagnosis
1
1/1
ANCA, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody; EGPA, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis; GPA, granulomatosis with polyangiitis; MPA, microscopic polyangiitis; FUO, fever of unknown origin. Vasculitis diagnosis confirmed by either imaging or biopsy. 5/6 patients were ANCA-positive. The ANCA-negative patient had biopsy confirmed diagnosis.
