Extracardiac abnormalities on rubidium-82 cardiac positron emission tomography/computed tomography

BACKGROUNDThe role of rubidium-82 (Rb) in recognizing extracardiac diseases is minimally investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and incremental added value of extracardiac findings on Rb cardiac positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) studies. METHODThe study included all consecutive patients who were referred from July 2008 to June 2010 for Rb cardiac PET/CT to our institution. A blinded reader reviewed the images retrospectively to assess abnormal extracardiac PET findings. RESULTSImages of 406 patients (142 men; 264 women) with a mean age±standard deviation of 59.72±12.93 years (range18–91 years) were reviewed. Incidental extracardiac abnormalities were found in 67 of 406 patients (16.5%). Among them, eight patients had malignant etiologies (1.9%). CONCLUSIONIncidental extracardiac findings were present in a significant portion of patients undergoing Rb cardiac PET/CT studies. Although most of the extracardiac findings on Rb cardiac PET/CT studies represented clinically known pathologies, these incidental findings on routine Rb cardiac PET/CT scans may have a significant clinical impact on a small number of patients, and offer the referring physician the chance to obtain additional clinically relevant information.