Study: FDG PET/CT has diagnostic value for pediatric fever, inflammation

FDG-PET and PET/CT may be valuable diagnostic tools for the evaluation of children with fever of unknown origin and unexplained signs of inflammation, according to a study published in the January issue of European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

“Fever of unknown origin and unexplained signs of inflammation are challenging medical problems, especially in children, and predominantly caused by infections, malignancies or noninfectious inflammatory diseases,” said Dirk Foell, MD, department of pediatrics at the University of Muenster in Muenster, Germany, and colleagues.

In the study, 47 FDG-PET and 30 PET/CT scans were performed in 69 children (median age 8.1 years, 36 male, 33 female). The researchers analyzed the diagnostic value of PET in pediatric patients with fever of unknown origin (44 scans) or unexplained signs of inflammation without fever (33 scans).

Of the total 77 PET and PET/CT scans, 45 percent were clinically helpful. In patients with a final diagnosis, scans were found to have contributed to the diagnosis in 73 percent.

“This is the first larger study demonstrating that FDG PET and PET/CT may be valuable diagnostic tools for the evaluation of children with fever of unknown origin and unexplained signs of inflammation,” said Foell.

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