{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T12:20:28Z","timestamp":1787314828468,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,23]],"date-time":"2023-06-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1687478400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Veteran\u2019s Affairs Competitive Pilot Project Fund Award","award":["I01 CX001703"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["I01 CX001703"]}]},{"name":"Veteran\u2019s Affairs Clinical Science Research &amp; Development Award","award":["I01 CX001703"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["I01 CX001703"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) involves chronic inflammation of synovial joints, causing pain, stiffness, and limited mobility. 18F-sodium fluoride (NaF) is a PET tracer whose uptake reflects bone turnover, while 18F-fludeoxyglucose (FDG) shows glucose metabolism and can serve as a marker for inflammation. The aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of calculating the FDG and NaF mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) in the knee joint, hip joint, and sacroiliac (SI) joint of RA patients and to determine their association with patient characteristics. Prospective FDG-PET\/CT as well as NaF-PET\/CT imaging was performed on 18 RA patients. The global SUVmean was calculated on FDG-PET\/CT and NaF-PET\/CT images using a semiautomated CT-based method of segmentation. FDG and NaF uptake were found to be significantly correlated in the knee (r = 0.77, p &lt; 0.001), but not in the hip and SI joints. In the knee, both NaF SUVmean and FDG SUVmean were significantly correlated with body weight, BMI, leptin, and sclerostin levels (p &lt; 0.05). NaF SUVmean was significantly positively correlated with BMI and leptin for both the hip and SI joints (p &lt; 0.05). No significant correlation was observed between either PET parameter and age, height, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and interleukins 1 and 6 (IL-1 and IL-6); however, FDG was correlated with inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and patient global visual analogue scale (VAS-PtGlobal) in some joints. In this study, both FDG and NaF uptake were quantified in large joints of patients with RA using CT segmentation. NaF and FDG SUVmean were correlated with clinical variables related to body weight and adiposity, suggesting that degenerative joint disease may play a larger role in influencing the uptake of these tracers in large joints than RA disease activity. FDG and its correlation with markers of inflammation such as CRP and VAS-PtGlobal suggests that this tracer may serve as a more specific marker for RA disease activity than NaF. Larger prospective and longitudinal data are necessary to gain a better understanding of the roles of FDG and NaF in evaluating RA joint activity in these joints.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics13132149","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,26]],"date-time":"2023-06-26T02:40:23Z","timestamp":1687747223000},"page":"2149","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["18F-FDG and 18F-NaF PET\/CT Global Assessment of Large Joint Inflammation and Bone Turnover in Rheumatoid Arthritis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Natasha","family":"Reddy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4558-6805","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"William Y.","family":"Raynor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas J.","family":"Werner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joshua F.","family":"Baker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"},{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, 3900 Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"},{"name":"Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2442-7901","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abass","family":"Alavi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3300-7420","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mona-Elisabeth","family":"Revheim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Intervention Center, Division of Technology and Innovation, Oslo University Hospital, Sognsvannsveien 20, 0372 Oslo, Norway"},{"name":"Division of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Sognsvannsveien 20, 0372 Oslo, Norway"},{"name":"Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Problemveien 7, 0315 Oslo, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.2174\/1573397112666160331142548","article-title":"Weight Bearing Joints Destruction in Rheumatoid Arthritis","volume":"13","author":"Imagama","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr. 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