The objective of this study was to determine the value of 18F-FDG PET/CT for diagnosing renal or hepatic cyst infection in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Methods: This retrospective, single-center study included all patients who had ADPKD and underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT because of suspected cyst infection between 2010 and 2017. Results: Thirty 18F-FDG PET/CT scans of 30 individual patients were included; 19 of them had positive results for cyst infection. According to a previously established clinical and biochemical reference standard, 18F-FDG PET/CT achieved a sensitivity of 88.9%, a specificity of 75.0%, a positive predictive value of 84.2%, and a negative predictive value of 81.8% for the diagnosis of cyst infection. In 5 cases, 18F-FDG PET/CT suggested that the symptoms could be explained by a different pathologic process, including pneumonia (n = 1), generalized peritonitis (n = 1), pancreatitis (n = 1), colitis (n = 1), and cholangitis (n = 1). The total duration of the hospital stay and the duration between the 18F-FDG PET/CT scan and hospital discharge for patients with 18F-FDG PET/CT scan results that were positive for cyst infection were significantly longer than those for patients with negative scan results (P = 0.005 and P = 0.009, respectively). Creatinine levels were significantly higher in patients with 18F-FDG PET/CT scan results that were positive for cyst infection than in patients with negative scan results (P = 0.015). Other comparisons of clinical parameters (age, sex, presence of fever [>38.5°C] for more than 3 d, abdominal pain, history of solid-organ transplantation and nephrectomy, and immune status), laboratory values (C-reactive protein level, leukocyte count, and estimated glomerular filtration rate), and microbiologic test results (blood and urine cultures) were not significantly different (P = 0.13-1.00) in patients with positive and negative 18F-FDG PET/CT scan results. Conclusion:18F-FDG PET/CT is a useful imaging modality for the evaluation of patients with ADPKD and suspected cyst infection.
Keywords: ADPKD; PET/CT; cyst; infection; infectious disease; kidney.
© 2018 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.