Background Intestinal 18F-FDG Uptake Is Related to Serum Lipid Profile and Obesity in Breast Cancer Patients

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 2;10(11):e0141473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141473. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Background: This study investigated the relationships between background intestinal uptake on 18F-FDG PET and cardio-metabolic risk (CMR) factors.

Methods: A total of 326 female patients that underwent 18F-FDG PET to determine the initial stage of breast cancer were enrolled. None of the patients had history of diabetes or hypertension. The background intestinal uptake on PET was visually graded (low vs. high uptake group) and quantitatively measured using the maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax). SUVmax of 7 bowel segments (duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, hepatic flexure, splenic flexure, and descending colon-sigmoid junction) were averaged for the total bowel (TB SUVmax). Age, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose level (BST), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were the considered CMR factors. The relationships between background intestinal 18F-FDG uptake on PET and diverse CMR factors were analyzed.

Results: The visual grades based on background intestinal 18F-FDG uptake classified 100 (30.7%) patients into the low uptake group, while 226 (69.3%) were classified into the high uptake group. Among CMR factors, age (p = 0.004), BMI (p<0.001), and TG (p<0.001) were significantly different according to visual grade of background intestinal 18F-FDG uptake. Quantitative TB SUVmax showed significant positive correlation with age (r = 0.203, p<0.001), BMI (r = 0.373, p<0.001), TG (r = 0.338, p<0.001), cholesterol (r = 0.148, p = 0.008), and LDL (r = 0.143, p = 0.024) and significant negative correlation with HDL (r = -0.147, p = 0.022). Multivariate analysis indicated that BMI and TG were independent factors in both visually graded background intestinal 18F-FDG uptake (p = 0.027 and p = 0.023, respectively) and quantitatively measured TB SUVmax (p = 0.006 and p = 0.004, respectively).

Conclusion: Increased background intestinal 18F-FDG uptake on PET may suggest alteration of lipid metabolism and risk of cardio-metabolic disease in non-diabetic and non-hypertensive breast cancer patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Breast Neoplasms / blood
  • Breast Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Female
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Intestines / diagnostic imaging*
  • Lipids / blood*
  • Middle Aged
  • Obesity / blood
  • Obesity / metabolism*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Radiopharmaceuticals / metabolism*
  • Risk Factors

Substances

  • Lipids
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18

Grants and funding

This research was supported by grants from Ewha Womans University (1-2015-1057-001-1 and 1-2014-1676-001-1) and the National Research Foundation (2015R1C1A1A02037051, 2012M3A9B6055379, and NRF-2014R1A2A2A04006291). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.