Factors Affecting BAT Activation in PET/CT

Overview

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the factors affecting BAT activation in 18F-FDG-PET/CT in different tumours

Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) is currently a standard diagnostic tool for identifying tumours and their metastases as well as infectious or inflammatory lesions.1-3 High physiological uptake of 18F-FDG is found in organs with high glucose metabolism, such as the brain and heart. One particular tissue with high 18F-FDG uptake that can interfere with scan interpretation is brown fat.4 Brown fat, or brown adipose tissue (BAT), is involved in non-shivering thermogenesis and creates heat through glucose metabolism. It is found mostly in the cervical, supraclavicular and thoracic paravertebral regions,5 and some is also found in the axillae, mediastinum and abdomen.6 Although it is usually simple for nuclear medicine physicians to recognize BAT uptake through its typical pattern and from the low attenuation in the CT scan, high uptake in BAT can still be mistaken for a malignant lesion or cause false-negative results by obscuring small metastases and decrease diagnostic confidence of the scan professional reading. BAT has a preferential distribution over the body and a preferential occurrence in female, younger and thinner patients. It mainly interferes with scan interpretation in tumours that occurs at younger age and is located in or metastasize to the head, neck and peri clavicular/axillary regions, such as melanoma of the upper body, breast cancer, and head and neck cancers, but it can also cause problems in lung and other cancers.7.8

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Outcomes