Aortic (18)F-FDG uptake in patients suffering from granulomatosis with polyangiitis

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to systematically assess aortic inflammation in patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) using (18)F-2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT. METHODS: Aortic inflammation was studied in PET/CT scans obtained from 21 patients with GPA; 14 patients with sarcoidosis were included as disease controls, 7 patients with stage I or II head and neck carcinoma ascertained during routine clinical practice were used as healthy controls (HC) and 5 patients with large vessel vasculitis (LVV) were used as positive controls. Aortic (18)F-FDG uptake was expressed as the blood-normalized maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)), known as the target to background ratio (mean TBR(max)). RESULTS: The mean TBR(max) (interquartile range) of the aorta in patients with GPA, sarcoidosis, HC and LVV were 1.75 (1.32–2.05), 1.62 (1.54–1.74), 1.29 (1.22–1.52) and 2.03 (1.67–2.45), respectively. The mean TBR(max) was significantly higher in patients suffering from GPA or LVV compared to HC (p < 0.05 and p < 0.005, respectively) and tended to be higher in patients suffering from sarcoidosis, but this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.098). The mean TBR(max) of the most diseased segment was significantly higher compared to HC [1.57 (1.39–1.81)] in LVV patients [2.55 (2.22–2.82), p < 0.005], GPA patients [2.17 (1.89–2.83), p < 0.005] and patients suffering from sarcoidosis [2.04 (1.88–2.20), p < 0.05]. In GPA patients, the mean TBR(max) of the aorta was significantly higher in patients with previous renal involvement [2.01 (1.69–2.53)] compared to patients without renal involvement in the past [1.60 (1.51–1.80), p < 0.05]. Interrater reproducibility with a second reader was high (all intraclass correlation coefficients >0.9). CONCLUSION: Patients suffering from GPA show marked aortic FDG uptake. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00259-015-3081-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.