Prognostic Value of [F]FDG PET/CT in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2025 Jan 2

PMID 39747497

Authors

Wonseok Whi

Hwanhee Lee

Young Seok Cho

HyunJong Lee

Hongseok Yoo

Man Pyo Chung

Joon Young Choi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The study investigates the prognostic value of [F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). A total of 346 IPF patients who underwent FDG PET/CT between 2007 and 2020 were analyzed. Pulmonary FDG uptake [target to background ratio (TBR)] was binarized by optimal cut-off value based on survival analysis. The PET-modified GAP (Gender, Age, lung Physiology) score-based staging system included a category for FDG uptake, and its prognostic prediction was compared with the conventional GAP score. Survival analyses were conducted for progression-free, overall, and disease-specific survival. The low FDG uptake group showed a significantly better prognosis than the high uptake group, with cut-off values of 7.26 (p < 0.001), 7.15 (p = 0.04), and 9.23 (p = 0.01) for progression-free, overall, and disease-specific survival, respectively. The PET-modified GAP score-based staging system differentiated better than the conventional GAP system, particularly between stages I and II in overall survival (p = 0.001 vs. p = 0.08). For disease-specific survival, the PET-modified model showed better performance than the original GAP model (p = 0.06 vs. p = 0.33), though neither was statistically significant. Pulmonary FDG uptake in PET/CT is a reliable biomarker for predicting the prognosis of IPF patients and enhances the conventional GAP staging system's predictive value for patient survival.

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