Correlations between 18F-FDG uptake by bone marrow and hematological parameters: measurements by PET/CT

Murata, Yuji; Kubota, Kazuo; Yukihiro, Masashi; Ito, Kimiteru; Watanabe, Hiroshige; Shibuya, Hitoshi

doi:10.1016/j.nucmedbio.2006.09.005

« Previous Next »Nuclear Medicine and Biology
Volume 33, Issue 8 , Pages 999-1004, November 2006

Correlations between ¹⁸F-FDG uptake by bone marrow and hematological parameters: measurements by PET/CT

Yuji Murata
- Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 3 5803 5311; fax: +81 3 5803 0147.
Kazuo Kubota
- Division of Nuclear Medicine, International Medical Center of Japan, Tokyo, 162-8655 Japan
Masashi Yukihiro
- Division of Nuclear Medicine, International Medical Center of Japan, Tokyo, 162-8655 Japan
Kimiteru Ito
- Division of Nuclear Medicine, International Medical Center of Japan, Tokyo, 162-8655 Japan
Hiroshige Watanabe
- Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
Hitoshi Shibuya
- Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan

Received 13 July 2006; received in revised form 20 September 2006; accepted 24 September 2006.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlations between ¹⁸F-FDG uptake by bone marrow and various hematological parameters.

Forty-eight patients who underwent FDG-PET/CT studies and also received hematological examinations within 5 days before or after the PET study were included in this study. All patients had not received chemotherapy. FDG uptake by bone marrow was measured as a standardized uptake value (SUV) on three-dimensional PET/CT fusion images, and the uptake ratio (UR) of the SUV of bone marrow to the SUV of longitudinal dorsal muscle was calculated. The correlations between the SUV and the UR of bone marrow and various hematological parameters were evaluated.

Bone marrow FDG uptake was strongly correlated with the white blood cell counts but was not significantly correlated with the red blood cell and platelet counts. The neutrophil count was significantly correlated with bone marrow FDG uptake but the lymphocyte count was not.

FDG uptake by bone marrow was specifically correlated with the neutrophil count, suggesting that the FDG uptake by bone marrow reflects marrow metabolism that is mainly regulated by granulocyte progenitors and stimulated by endogenous hematopoietic growth factors. They may also be helpful in interpreting PET images, especially for diagnosing bone marrow involvement by malignancy.

Keywords: FDG, Bone marrow, Blood cell, PET/CT