• J L M Bruggink, A W J M Glaudemans, B R Saleem, R Meerwaldt, H Alkefaji, T R Prins, R H J A Slart, and C J Zeebregts.
• Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30 001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands.
• Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2010 Sep 1; 40 (3): 348-54.

ObjectivesTo investigate the diagnostic accuracy of fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) compared with computed tomography (CT) scanning and added value of fused FDG-PET-CT in diagnosing vascular prosthetic graft infection.DesignProspective cohort study with retrospective analysis.MaterialsTwenty five patients with clinically suspected vascular prosthetic infection underwent CT and FDG-PET scanning.MethodsTwo nuclear medicine physicians assessed the FDG-PET scans; all CT scans were assessed by two radiologists. Fused FDG-PET/CT were judged by the radiologist and the nuclear medicine physician. The concordance between CT and FDG-PET and the inter-observer agreement between the different readers were investigated.ResultsFifteen patients had a proven infection by culture. Single FDG-PET had the best results (sensitivity 93%, specificity 70%, positive predictive value 82% and negative predictive value 88%). For CT, these values were 56%, 57%, 60% and 58%, respectively. Fused CT and FDG-PET imaging also showed high sensitivity and specificity rates and high positive and negative values. Inter-observer agreement for FDG-PET analysis was excellent (kappa = 1.00) and moderate for CT and fused FDG-PET-CT analysis (0.63 and 0.66, respectively).ConclusionFDG-PET scanning showed a better diagnostic accuracy than CT for the detection of vascular prosthetic infection. This study suggests that FDG-PET provides a useful tool in the work-up for diagnosis of vascular prosthetic graft infection.Copyright 2010 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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