Treadmill exercise inducing mild to moderate ischemia has no significant effect on skeletal muscle or cardiac 18F-FDG uptake and image quality on subsequent whole-body PET scan

Abstract

We report the effects of treadmill exercise on 18F-FDG uptake in skeletal muscles and image quality of torso PET and compare stress myocardial perfusion imaging patterns with myocardial 18F-FDG uptake. There were 3 groups of patients: 48 patients underwent PET within 8 h after a treadmill test (Ex 8), 45 patients within 48 h after a treadmill test (Ex 48), and 34 patients without prior exercise. Mean workload (8.4 ± 2.3 [Ex 8] vs. 8.9 ± 2.6 metabolic equivalents [Ex 48]) was similar in both exercise groups. Muscle uptake was assessed by standardized uptake value. Myocardial uptake patterns were compared visually. Minor differences between patient groups were noted only for maximum standardized uptake value in quadriceps muscles. There was no correlation between perfusion defects and myocardial 18F-FDG uptake patterns. Thus, treadmill exercise does not affect muscle 18F-FDG uptake or image quality on subsequent PET. Cardiac 18F-FDG uptake on torso PET scans is unrelated to myocardial perfusion status. Copyright © 2012 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc.