Infection imaging using whole-body FDG-PET.

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiology
• Infectious Disease Imaging

Background:

• Accurate detection of soft tissue and bone infections is crucial for effective patient management.
• Positron emission tomography (PET) using fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has shown promise in identifying metabolically active tissues, including sites of infection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic performance of FDG-PET for detecting soft tissue infections (STI) and bone infections (BI).
• To determine the sensitivity and specificity of FDG-PET in identifying infectious foci.

Main Methods:

• Forty-five whole- or partial-body FDG-PET scans were performed on 39 patients with suspected infectious foci.
• Scans included 27 patients with suspected soft tissue infections and 18 with suspected bone infections.
• Findings were graded using a confidence scale, and disease status was confirmed by culture, biopsy, surgery, or clinical follow-up.

Main Results:

• FDG-PET demonstrated high sensitivity: 96% for STI, 100% for BI, and 98% for pooled data.
• Specificity varied: 70% (STI), 83% (BI), and 75% (pooled) per lesion; 99% (STI), 99% (BI), and 99% (pooled) per body region.
• Out of 45 scans, there were 40 true-positive, 4 false-positive, and 1 false-negative finding.

Conclusions:

• FDG-PET is a highly sensitive imaging modality for detecting infectious foci in both soft tissues and bones.
• While specificity is more variable depending on the assessment method, PET offers valuable diagnostic information for suspected infections.