Clinical implication of myocardial FDG uptake pattern in oncologic PET: retrospective comparison study with stress myocardial perfusion imaging as the reference standard

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical implication of the myocardial FDG uptake patterns by comparing with the results of stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) as the reference standard. Methods By reviewing the medical records, 86 pairs of stress MPI and FDG PET/CT of 84 patients who underwent stress MPI and oncologic FDG PET/CT in 1 month were included in this study. The patterns of the myocardial FDG uptake were classified into five patterns such as ‘low’, ‘diffuse’, ‘basal ring’, ‘focal high’, and ‘focal defect on diffuse high’. MPI was evaluated using a 5-point scoring model ranging from 0 (normal uptake) to 4 (uptake absent) based on the 17-segment model. The summed stress score of 4 or higher was defined as ‘abnormal MPI’. Factors predictive of abnormal MPI were analyzed using a log-rank multivariate test and p