FDG PET of the brain to screen for neurodegenerative disease in older liver transplant candidates.
Purpose: The aging liver transplant population presents new challenges in distinguishing irreversible, age-related causes of dementia from hepatic encephalopathy (HE), given their overlapping clinical presentations. Dementia is often assessed through neuropsychological testing (NPT), but imaging uti...
| Publicado en: | European Journal of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging Vol. 52; no. 12; pp. 4652 - 4661 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
Oct2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=188453117&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 188453117 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 16197070 NPC jtl: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging issn: 16197070 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2025 vid: 52 iid: 12 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature place: New York, New York artinfo: ui: 188453117 185707476 10.1007/s00259-025-07382-0 188453117 ppf: 4652 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: FDG PET of the brain to screen for neurodegenerative disease in older liver transplant candidates. aug: au: Jones, Natalie Schwartz, Trent M. Bishay, Steven Robb, W. Hudson Sams, Amanda Kogan, Josh Nable, Monica Nelson, Sydney Zhao, Oliver S. Hohman, Timothy Huang, Steven Martinez, Felipe Nguyen, Ba Shin, Clifford Yang, Ming Westervelt, Holly Szymkowicz, Sarah M. Omary, Lesley T. Aqel, Bashar A. Dickson, Rolland affil: https://ror.org/02vm5rt34 Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA sug: ab: Purpose: The aging liver transplant population presents new challenges in distinguishing irreversible, age-related causes of dementia from hepatic encephalopathy (HE), given their overlapping clinical presentations. Dementia is often assessed through neuropsychological testing (NPT), but imaging utilizing biomarkers like Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) has been considered as an alternative. This preliminary investigation aims to assess FDG PET/CT in screening for irreversible causes of dementia in older liver transplant candidates. Methods: Eighteen patients with clinical suspicion for dementia during transplant evaluation were assessed using FDG PET/CT of the brain. Demographic data, FDG PET/CT and NPT results, and time between date of order and interpretation of FDG PET/CT and NPT were collected. Concordance between and time-to-diagnosis of FDG PET/CT and NPT were calculated. FDG PET/CT of these patients were compared to healthy, age-matched controls to determine altered patterns of FDG uptake in the brains of these patients. Results: 40% of patients were diagnosed with an irreversible cause of dementia on FDG PET/CT. There was moderate agreement (K = 0.44) between NPT and FDG PET/CT. FDG PET/CT had a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 50%, respectively. Time-to-diagnosis was significantly shorter with FDG PET/CT (12.4 days) compared to NPT (73.1 days). Voxel-wise analysis showed statistically significant diffuse cortical and basal ganglia hypometabolism in patients being evaluated for liver transplant versus age-matched healthy controls. Conclusion: FDG PET/CT is helpful in screening for irreversible causes of dementia in older liver transplant candidates, but a positive PET indicates that further evaluation is required before denying a patient a potentially life-saving treatment. Efficient workup for these patients is crucial, and FDG PET/CT could provide a sensitive first screening test for dementia in older patients undergoing liver transplant evaluation which can be confirmed with NPT or with more specific biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease. Clinical trial registration: Not applicable. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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