Assessing Liver Standard Uptake Value (SUV) in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) versus those without CHF using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as an Imaging Modality

2728 Objectives Liver standard uptake values (SUV) are commonly used as standard internal reference when interpreting PET/CT studies. Factors that could potentially impact this standard may affect diagnoses made by this imaging modality. The diagnosis of CHF is not uncommon in patients undergoing PET/CT examination. The purpose of this study is to compare the liver SUV in patients with and without CHF. Methods A retrospective study was conducted which included 79 patients with CHF and compared to 79 age and gender matched control patients without CHF. All 158 patients had FDG PET/CT examination according to standard imaging protocol. Liver SUV was recorded for each patient and analyzed for a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Results Of all 158 cases reviewed (82 males, 76 females; mean age 69 yrs; age range 30-95 yrs), those patients with CHF exhibited an average liver SUV of 2.69 +/- 1.15 while those without CHF exhibited an SUV of 2.56 +/- 0.75. A two-tailed test of significance was undertaken to yield a p-value of approximately 0.410. Conclusions We conclude that the presence of CHF does not have a statistically significant impact upon liver SUV. Therefore, the presence of CHF does not preclude the use of liver SUV as an internal reference in patients undergoing FDG PET/CT examination.