Publication date: Jul 17, 2023
In coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), endothelial cells play a central role and an inadequate response is associated with vascular complications. PET imaging with gallium-68 labelled RGD-peptide (Ga-RGD) targets αβ integrin expression which allows quantification of endothelial activation. In this single-center, prospective observational study, we included ten hospitalized patients with COVID-19 between October 2020 and January 2021. Patients underwent Ga-RGD PET/CT followed by iodine mapping of lung parenchyma. CT-based segmentation of lung parenchyma, carotid arteries and myocardium was used to quantify tracer uptake by calculating standardized uptake values (SUV). Five non-COVID-19 patients were used as reference. The study population was 68. 5 (IQR 52. 0-74. 5) years old, with median oxygen need of 3 l/min (IQR 0. 9-4. 0). Ga-RGD uptake quantified as SUV +/- SD was increased in lungs (0. 99 +/- 0. 32 vs. 0. 45 +/- 0. 18, p
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Coronavirus | Activation |
| Ct | Covid |
| Iodine | Ct |
| Myocardium | Endothelial |
| Old | Ga |
| Gallium | |
| Imaging | |
| Iqr | |
| Labelled | |
| Lung | |
| Parenchyma | |
| Patients | |
| Pet | |
| Rgd | |
| Uptake |