Purpose: Inflammatory activity of the arterial wall can be assessed by measuring ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) uptake with positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET/CT). Improvement in vascular function after renal transplantation has been reported, but no studies have used ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT to examine the changes in vascular inflammation. This study investigated the changes in the inflammatory activity in the carotid artery after renal transplantation in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods: ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT was performed before and at 4 months after transplantation. We quantified ¹⁸F-FDG uptake as the target-to-background ratio (TBR) in the right and left carotid arterial walls in 10 CKD patients. TBR was evaluated in the whole carotid artery (WH) and most-diseased segment (MDS), and the mean and maximum values were analyzed. The concentrations of inflammatory and prothrombotic cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, and endothelin-1, were measured.

Results: Eight patients showed a decrease in mean or maximum TBR. The average mean or maximum TBRs in the WH and MDS of the right and left arterial walls were all reduced after transplantation. The average mean TBR for the right WH decreased significantly (% reduction [95% CI]) by –5.74% [–15.37, –0.02] (P=0.047). TBRs did not correlate significantly with cytokine concentrations. The changes in cytokine concentrations after transplantation varied between cytokines.

Conclusions: ¹⁸F-FDG uptake by the WH and MDS were reduced after renal transplantation. Therefore, renal transplantation may confer an anti-inflammatory effect on carotid atherosclerosis in patients with CKD, and¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT can be an assessment tool for atherosclerosis.

CITATION INFORMATION: Yoon H., Kim Y., Yang C., Shin S. Changes in Carotid Arterial Inflammation in De Novo Renal Transplant Recipients as Assessed by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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