Reference values for fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose and fluorine-18-sodium fluoride uptake in human arteries: a prospective evaluation of 89 healthy adults

Objective Reference values of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose ( ¹⁸F-FDG) and fluorine-18-sodium fluoride ( ¹⁸F-NaF) uptake in human arteries are unknown. The aim of this study was to determine age-specific and sex-specific reference values of arterial ¹⁸F-FDG and ¹⁸F-NaF uptake. Participants and methods Uptake of ¹⁸F-FDG and ¹⁸F-NaF was determined in the ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending thoracic aorta. In addition, ¹⁸F-FDG uptake was determined in the carotid arteries and ¹⁸F-NaF uptake was determined in the coronary arteries. Arterial ¹⁸F-FDG and ¹⁸F-NaF uptake were quantified as the blood pool subtracted maximum activity concentration in kBq/ml (BS ¹⁸F-FDG _max and BS ¹⁸F-NaF _max, respectively). In addition to determining reference values, we evaluated the influence of age and sex on BS ¹⁸F-FDG _max and BS ¹⁸F-NaF _max. Results Arterial ¹⁸F-FDG and ¹⁸F-NaF uptake was assessed in 89 healthy adults aged 21-75 years (mean age: 44±14 years, 53% men). Both BS ¹⁸F-FDG _max and BS ¹⁸F-NaF _max increased with age. BS ¹⁸F-FDG _max increased with age in the descending aorta (β=0.28; P=0.003), whereas BS ¹⁸F-NaF _max increased with age in the ascending aorta (β=0.18; P<0.001), aortic arch (β=0.19; P=0.006), descending aorta (β=0.33; P<0.001), and coronary arteries (β=0.20; P=0.009), respectively. BS ¹⁸F-FDG _max and BS ¹⁸F-NaF _max were not influenced by sex, except for BS ¹⁸F-FDG _max in the ascending aorta. Conclusion Prospective evaluation of 89 healthy adults generated age-specific and sex-specific reference values of arterial ¹⁸F-FDG and ¹⁸F-NaF uptake. Our findings indicate that arterial ¹⁸F-FDG and ¹⁸F-NaF uptake tend to increase with age.