Abstract:
To evaluate arterial fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake as a marker of arterial inflammation in multiple vascular beds in patients treated
with anthracycline-based chemotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).
We used maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and target-to-background ratio (TBR) to quantify arterial FDG uptake in
the carotid artery, ascending aorta, abdominal aorta, and femoral artery obtained on positron emission tomography/computed
tomography (PET/CT) imaging performed at baseline before chemotherapy and after completion of chemotherapy in patients with HL
treated with an anthracycline-containing regimen. We compared the SUVmax and TBR obtained at baseline with that obtained postchemotherapy
for each arterial bed to evaluate the effect of anthracycline-based chemotherapy. We evaluated the effect of
cardiovascular risk factors such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes on the
changes in SUVmax and TBR seen in the different arterial beds after anthracycline-based chemotherapy.
Fifty-two patients were included with a mean age of 34.56±10.19 years. There were 33 males, and 18 patients were HIV-infected.
The mean interval between completion of chemotherapy and follow-up flourine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission
tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) scan was 65 weeks. We found no significant difference in arterial FDG uptake
measured by SUVmax and TBR in all arterial beds between the pre- and post-chemotherapy FDG PET/CT. There was no significant
impact of HIV infection, smoking, and hypertension on the changes in arterial FDG uptake following treatment with anthracyclinebased
chemotherapy.
In patients with HL who were treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy, we found no significant increase in arterial
inflammation measured by FDG PET/CT after an average follow-up period of about 65 weeks since completion of chemotherapy.
