FDG-PET for the detection of infected vascular grafts

Graft infection following prosthetic vascular reconstruction is an uncommon but severe complication. The clinical presentation is often subtle and non-specific and may occur long after surgery. While defining a prosthetic vascular graft infection can be difficult, early diagnosis and treatment are e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe quarterly journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 35 - 40
Main Authors Keidar, Z, Nitecki, S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Italy Edizioni Minerva Medica 01.02.2009
Subjects
Bacterial Infections - diagnostic imaging
Bacterial Infections - etiology
Blood
Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation - adverse effects
E coli
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Gram-positive bacteria
Heart surgery
Hospitals
Humans
Infections
Medical imaging
Medical treatment
Mortality
Patient care planning
Patients
Positron-Emission Tomography
Postoperative Complications - diagnostic imaging
Postoperative Complications - etiology
Risk factors
Staphylococcus infections
Studies
Tissues
Tomography
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
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Summary:Graft infection following prosthetic vascular reconstruction is an uncommon but severe complication. The clinical presentation is often subtle and non-specific and may occur long after surgery. While defining a prosthetic vascular graft infection can be difficult, early diagnosis and treatment are essential for the correct choice of treatment in order to prevent further complications as well as the high morbidity and mortality associated with repeat surgery and removal of infected grafts. False positive results may lead to unnecessary surgery while failure to diagnose graft infection may have life-threatening sequels. Scarce literature that is currently available regarding the role of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) imaging for assessment of vascular graft infection suggests that this modality may represent reliable non-invasive imaging modality in this specific clinical setting. Hybrid positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), combining CT with PET, increases the test specificity and thus improves diagnostic accuracy. The precise anatomic localization of increased FDG uptake provided by PET/CT enables accurate differentiation between graft and adjacent soft tissue infection leading to more accurate diagnosis and subsequent optimized therapeutic strategy.
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ISSN:1824-4785
1827-1936