An Intravenous 100-mL Lipid Emulsion Infusion Dramatically Improves Myocardial Glucose Metabolism Extinction in Cardiac FDG PET Clinical Practice

Purpose Physiological myocardial accumulation of FDG impairs the diagnosis of inflammatory/infectious or tumoral myocardial detection by FDG PET/CT. We prospectively evaluated the addition, 3 hours before imaging, of an intravenous 100-mL lipid emulsion infusion (Intralipid) to a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet (HFLCD) for at least 2 meals followed by a fast of at least 6 to 12 hours in patients referred for the diagnosis of myocardial inflammation, endocarditis, cardiac or paracardiac masses, intracardiac device, or prosthetic valve infections. Methods Data of 58 patients consecutively included (28 Intralipid patients, 30 controls with HFLCD alone) were compared. FDG uptake in normal myocardium was scored from 0 (complete myocardial suppression) to 3 (high diffuse uptake). Myocardial maximal, peak, and mean SUV and the rate of interpretable images according to the clinical indication were measured. Results Compared with controls, Intralipid infusion significantly improved the rate of score 0 (89% vs 63%, P = 0.021), of interpretable images according to the clinical indication (100% vs 72%, P = 0.0047) and decreased all myocardial SUV values (eg, SUVmax median, 1.9 [interquartile range, 1.7–2.5] vs 3.1 [interquartile range, 2.3–4.1]; P < 0.001). Conclusions A lipid emulsion infusion in addition to HFLCD better suppresses cardiac glucose metabolism than HFLCD alone.