Epidemiological and clinico-pathological studies indicate a causal relationship between heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To learn whether heart disease causes an onset of AD, mice with myocardial infarction (MI) and congestive heart failure (HF) were used to test neuropsychiatric and cognitive behaviors as well as for measurements of AD related protein markers. To this end, adult mice were subjected to ligation of left anterior descending artery (LAD) and about two weeks later high-frequency echocardiography was performed to exam the resulting cardiac structure and function. Three months after successful induction of chronic heart failure (CHF) these mice showed an impairment of learning in the Morris Water Maze task. In addition, the expression of selected molecules, which are involved in β-amyloid metabolism, apoptosis and inflammation on the level of gene transcription and translation, was altered in CHF mice. Our findings provide a plausible explanation that CHF increases the risk of cognitive impairments and alters cerebral β-amyloid metabolism. In addition, our data indicate that the cerebral compensatory mechanisms in response to CHF are brain area and gender specific.
Objectives
We aimed to investigate the role of [68Ga]FAPI-04 and [18F]FDG dual-tracer PET/CT for the initial assessment of gastric cancer and to explore the factors associated with their uptake.
Methods
This study enrolled 62 patients with histopathologically confirmed gastric cancer. We compared the diagnostic performance of [68Ga]FAPI-04, [18F]FDG, and combined dual-tracer PET/CT. The standardized uptake value (SUV) and tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) were also measured, and the factors that influence tracer uptake were analyzed.
Results
[68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT detected more primary lesions (90.3% vs 77.4%, p = 0.008) and peritoneal metastases (91.7% vs 41.7%, p = 0.031) and demonstrated higher SUVmax and TBR values (p < 0.001) of primary lesions compared to [18F]FDG PET/CT. Dual-tracer PET/CT significantly improved the diagnostic sensitivity for the detection of distant metastases, compared with stand-alone [18F]FDG (97.1% vs 73.5%, p = 0.008) or [68Ga]FAPI-04 (97.1% vs 76.5%, p = 0.016) PET/CT. Subsequently, treatment strategies were changed in nine patients following [68Ga]FAPI-04 and [18F]FDG dual-tracer PET/CT. Nevertheless, [68Ga]FAPI-04 uptake was primarily influenced by the size and invasion depth of the tumor. Both [68Ga]FAPI-04 and [18F]FDG PET/CT showed limited sensitivity for detecting early gastric cancer (EGC) (37.5% vs 25.0%, p > 0.05).
Conclusions
In this initial study, [68Ga]FAPI-04 and [18F]FDG dual-tracer PET/CT were complementary and improved sensitivity for the detection of distant metastases pre-treatment in gastric cancer and could improve treatment stratification in the future. [68Ga]FAPI-04 had limited efficacy in detecting EGC.
Key Points
•[68Ga]FAPI-04 and[18F]FDG dual-tracer PET/CT are complementary to each other for improving diagnostic sensitivity in the initial evaluation of distant metastases from gastric cancer.
•[68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT showed limited sensitivity in detecting EGC.
• Need for further validation in a larger multi-centre prospective study.
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