Prosthetic vascular graft infection: the role of 18F-FDG

Graft infection after prosthetic vascular reconstruction is an un-common but severe complication. The clinical presentation is of-ten subtle and nonspecific and may occur long after surgery. Although defining a prosthetic vascular graft infection can be dif-ficult, early diagnosis and treatment are important because of the relatively high rates of amputation and death. The present study assessed the role of PET/CT using 18F-FDG for the diagnosis of vascular graft infections.Methods: Thirty-nine patients (35 men and 4 women; age range, 44–82 y) with suspected vascular graft infection underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT. The performance of PET/ CT for the diagnosis of an infectious process and its localization to the graft or soft tissues was assessed. The final diagnosis was based on histopathologic findings and microbiologic assays obtained at surgery or on clinical and imaging follow-up. Re-sults: PET/CT detected foci of increased 18F-FDG uptake sus