• TahraSema KaymazSKDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey., Salih Özgüven, Ali Uğur Ünal, ÖnerFatma AlibazFADivision of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey., Tunç Öneş, Tanju Yusuf Erdil, and Haner Direskeneli.
• Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2022 Apr 1; 52 (2): 313322313-322.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the value of the PET vascular activity score (PETVAS) during the follow-up of patients with Takayasu arteritis.MethodsTakayasu arteritis patients who underwent 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET imaging were evaluated retrospectively. In 8 patients both 1 and 2-h imagings were also performed prospectively. For PETVAS, 9 arterial areas were scored between 0-3 according to the FDG uptake.ResultsForty-six images of 34 patients were evaluated. PETVAS was higher in patients with clinically active disease (p = 0.03) and in the C-reactive protein (CRP) elevated group among clinically inactive patients (p = 0.0015). PETVAS correlated with CRP (p = 0.003, r = 0.53) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p = 0.005, r = 0.41), whereas age, disease duration, immunosuppressive, and glucocorticoid (GC) treatments were not associated with PETVAS. First vs. 2nd-h PETVAS was similar in patients who had both 1st and 2nd h PET scans (p = 0.67).DiscussionWe observed higher PETVAS in patients with active disease and elevated acute phase reactants. Although scores in our study (performed at one-h) were lower compared to the original PETVAS study performed at two h, PETVAS seems to be a reliable tool to quantify FDG PET scores in routine practice.

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