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Diagnosis

 

Evidence for uncoupling of clinical and 18-FDG activity of PET/CT scan improvement in tocilizumab-treated patients with large-vessel giant cell arteritis

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

 

  1. Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IDIVAL, Santander, Spain.
  2. Nuclear Medicine Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Molecular Imaging Group IDIVAL, Santander, and University of Cantabria, School of Medicine, Santander, Spain.
  3. Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
  4. Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IDIVAL, Santander, Spain.
  5. Nuclear Medicine Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Molecular Imaging Group IDIVAL, Santander, and University of Cantabria, School of Medicine, Santander, Spain.
  6. Pathology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IDIVAL, Santander, Spain.
  7. Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, Spain.
  8. University of Cantabria, School of Medicine, Santander, Spain.
  9. Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IDIVAL, Santander; University of Cantabria, School of Medicine, Santander; and Cardiovascular Pathophysiology and Genomics Research Unit, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. miguelaggay@hotmail.com
  10. Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IDIVAL, Santander, Spain. rblanco@humv.es

CER13559
2021 Vol.39, N°2 ,Suppl.129
PI 0069, PF 0075
Diagnosis

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PMID: 33253103 [PubMed]

Received: 13/05/2020
Accepted : 06/07/2020
In Press: 27/11/2020
Published: 19/05/2021

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
Clinical improvement following tocilizumab (TCZ) therapy in patients with large-vessel (LVV) giant cell arteritis (GCA) is well established. However, information on TCZ effect on imaging vascular activity is limited. We aimed to determine if clinical improvement correlated with reduction of vascular 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake in positron emission tomography (PET/CT) scans.
METHODS:
Observational study of patients with refractory LVV-GCA treated with TCZ who had a baseline and a follow-up 18F-FDG-PET/CT scan. For the visual analysis of 18F-FDG vascular uptake, a total vascular score (TVS) was defined, ranging from 0 to 15. Besides, a semiquantitative analysis was performed as a target to background ratio (TBR)= SUVmax thoracic aorta wall/SUVmax aortic vascular pool. The baseline and follow-up TVS and TBR were compared. Clinical and lab¬oratory outcomes were also assessed.
RESULTS:
We included 30 patients (24 women/6 men); mean age± standard deviation 65.7± 9.8 years. Baseline PET/CT scans were performed due to active disease at a median [interquartile range-IQR] of 1.5 [0.0-4.0] months before TCZ onset. Following TCZ therapy, 25 (83.33%) patients achieved clinical remission and reduction of 18F-FDG vascular uptake was also observed after a mean ± standard deviation of 10.8±3.7 months. TBR decreased from 1.70 ± 0.52 to 1.48 ± 0.25 (p=0.005) and TVS from 4.97±2.62 to 3.13±1.89 (p< 0.001). However, only 9 (30.0%) patients showed complete normalisation of TBR and only 3 (10%) normalisation of TVS. TBR and TVS showed a good correlation (r=0.576).
CONCLUSIONS:
Although most of LVV-GCA patients achieve clinical remission after TCZ therapy, less than one-third show normalisation of 18F-FDG vascular uptake.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55563/clinexprheumatol/mjm8fr

Rheumatology Article