The role of PET/CT in connective tissue disorders: systemic sclerosis, Sjogren's syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus
- 1 September 2022
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Edizioni Minerva Medica in The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
- Vol. 66 (3), 194-205
- https://doi.org/10.23736/S1824-4785.22.03463-X
Abstract
Advanced imaging techniques are needed to help clinicians in the diagnosis, in the choice of the right time for therapeutic interventions or for modifications and monitoring of treatment response in patients with autoimmune connective tissue diseases. Nuclear medicine imaging, espe-cially PET/CT and PET/MRI, may play an important role in detecting disease activity, assessing early treatment response as well as in clarifying the complex mechanisms underlying systemic sclerosis, Sjogren's syndrome or systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, [18F]FDG PET/CT may help in excluding or detecting coexisting malignancies. Other more specific radiopharmaceuticals are being developed and investigated, targeting specific cells and molecules involved in connective tissue diseases. Further larger studies with standardized imaging protocol and im-age interpretation are strongly required before including PET/CT in the diagnostic work-up of subsets of patients with autoimmune connective tissue diseases.This publication has 88 references indexed in Scilit:
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