The emerging role of whole-body 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in patients with sarcoidosis

Submitted: 2 January 2013
Accepted: 2 January 2013
Published: 30 January 2012
Abstract Views: 665
PDF: 705
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to examine the emerging role of whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in patients with sarcoidosis.

Materials and methods

We reviewed the literature on the use of FDG-PET in patients with sarcoidosis to identify how this technique is being applied in clinical practice.

Results and discussion

Our review shows that: 1) sarcoidosis is commonly associated with increased FDG uptake. Therefore, positive findings should be interpreted with caution when FDG-PET is being used to distinguish benign from malignant abnormalities; 2) FDG-PET seems to be a very useful molecular imaging method for staging sarcoidosis, identification of occult sites of involvement, guiding biopsy procedures, and monitoring patients' responses to treatment; and 3) in patients with sarcoidosis, the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET is superior to that of 67Ga scintigraphy.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

How to Cite

Taralli, S., Treglia, G., & Giordano, A. (2012). The emerging role of whole-body 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in patients with sarcoidosis. Italian Journal of Medicine, 6(1), 21–26. https://doi.org/10.4081/itjm.2012.21

List of Cited By :

Crossref logo