Improvement In Aortic Vascular Inflammation By 18-Fdg Pet/Ct Associates With Reduction In Aortic Wall Thickness By Mri

Introduction: The presence of aortic vascular inflammation (VI) by 18-FDG PET/CT predicts future cardiovascular (CV) events. Furthermore, aortic wall thickness by MRI has been shown to be an important marker of early subclinical atherosclerosis. Whether improvement in aortic vascular inflammation by FDG PET/CT is associated with improvement in aortic wall thickness by MRI is not known. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that an improvement in VI by FDG PET/CT will associate with an improvement in aortic wall thickness by MRI in a well characterized cohort of Psoriasis (PSO) patients. Methods: Consecutively recruited PSO patients (N=64) underwent whole-body PET/CT and MRI exams at baseline and 1-year follow-up. VI was assessed as target-to-background ratio (TBR) [Excellence Brilliant Workstation]. To measure aortic wall thickness, wall boundaries of the thoracic descending aorta were traced on each MRI slice [Qplaque, Medis]. The longitudinal change in wall thickness of the thoracic descending aorta was analyzed ...