Abstract
Positron emission tomography is a three-dimensional imaging technique that measures physiological effects, including metabolism.18Fluorodeoxyglucose has been extensively used as a tracer of cellular energy metabolism in the brain and in tumour detection. As neutrophils utilise glucose as an energy source during their respiratory burst, it was hypothesised that18fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, by these cells, could be interpreted as a measure of neutrophil activation in cystic fibrosis (CF).
Ten adult CF patients were given a bolus intravenous injection of18fluorodeoxyglucose, followed by a 90-min dynamic mid-lung acquisition scan. Right-lung18fluorodeoxyglucose uptake was assessed using a Patlak plot and values were converted to glucose utilisation. Three clinically inactive pulmonary sarcoidosis patients served as controls.
From the 10 CF patients with baseline sputum neutrophils of 14×106cells·mL−1who were investigated, seven were found to have sputum at a normal or slightly depressed glucose utilisation rate (mean 1.33 µmol·g−1·h−1) compared with a mean of 2.82 µmol·g−1·h−1for the sarcoidosis patients. In eight patients, receiving inhaled tobramycin therapy, no change in lung glucose utilisation or sputum neutrophil counts were found.
尽管中性粒细胞水平高,但囊性纤维化患者的肺葡萄糖利用率并未升高。
This study was funded by the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (SPARX 2).
Footnotes
- ReceivedJuly 18, 2002.
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