AUTHOR=Fank Hélène , Weekers Laurent , Lovinfosse Pierre , Pottel Hans , Seidel Laurence , Jadoul Alexandre , Bouquegneau Antoine , Bonvoisin Catherine , Bovy Christophe , Grosch Stephanie , Erpicum Pauline , Hustinx Roland , Jouret François TITLE=The uptake of [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose by the renal allograft correlates with the acute Banff scores of cortex inflammation but not with the 1-year graft outcomes JOURNAL=Frontiers in Transplantation VOLUME=2 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/transplantation/articles/10.3389/frtra.2023.1236751 DOI=10.3389/frtra.2023.1236751 ISSN=2813-2440 ABSTRACT=Introduction

[18F]FDG PET/CT noninvasively disproves acute kidney allograft rejection (AR) in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) with suspected AR. However, the correlation of biopsy-based Banff vs. PET/CT-based scores of acute inflammation remains unknown, as does the prognostic performance of [18F]FDG PET/CT at one year post suspected AR.

Methods

From 2012 to 2019, 114 [18F]FDG-PET/CTs were prospectively performed in 105 adult KTRs who underwent per cause transplant biopsies. Ordinal logistic regression assessed the correlation between the extent of histological inflammation and the mean standardized [18F]FDG uptake values (mSUVmean). Functional outcomes of kidney allografts were evaluated at one year post per cause biopsy and correlated to mSUVmean.

Results

A significant correlation between mSUVmean and acute Banff score was found, with an adjusted R2 of 0.25. The mSUVmean was significantly different between subgroups of “total i”, with 2.30 ± 0.71 in score 3 vs. 1.68 ± 0.24 in score 0. Neither the function nor the survival of the graft at one year was statistically related to mSUVmean.

Discussion

[18F]FDG-PET/CT may help noninvasively assess the severity of kidney allograft inflammation in KTRs with suspected AR, but it does not predict graft outcomes at one year.