FDG-PET/CT in intensive care patients with bloodstream infection

Table 1 Baseline characteristics

Characteristic	Value
Age (years)	55.5 (36)^a
Gender Men Women	17 (57%) 13 (43%)
Duration of ICU stay (days)	11 (29)^a
Duration of ICU stay before PET/CT (days)	5.5 (14)^a
Duration of hospital stay (days)	36 (66)^a
CRP (mg/L)	114 (134)^a
Leukocyte count (× 10⁹/L)	13.1 (9.0)^a
Isolated pathogen from blood culture Staphylococcus aureus Enterococcus faecium Candida albicans Staphylococcus hominis Staphylococcus epidermidis Group A Streptococcus Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pseudomonas putida Fusobacterium necrophorum Pseudomonas putida Kocuria Klebsiella oxytoca Candida kefyr Polymicrobial	11 (37%) 4 (13%) 2 (7%) 2 (7%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 2 (7%)
Duration of antibiotic treatment before FDG-PET/CT (days)	8 (9)^a
Imaging performed before FDG-PET/CT X-ray Ultrasonography Computed tomography Magnetic resonance imaging	30 (100%) 28 (93%) 21 (70%) 5 (17%)
Quality of PET image Poor Reasonable Good	9^c (30%) 4 (13%) 17 (57%)
Ventilated during PET Yes No	17 (57%) 13 (43%)
In-hospital mortality	9 (30%)

^aMedian (IQR)
^bMean ± SD
^c3 FDG-PET scans had poor image quality due to diffusely high FDG uptake of skeletal muscle most likely due to administration of IV fluid with glucose shortly before FDG-PET. One of these patients also received insulin shortly before FDG-PET/CT. In three patients, poor quality was most likely due to kidney and/or liver failure (low background clearance of FDG). However, the exact intravenous fluids received before FDG-PET/CT could not be retrieved for one of these patients. In two patients, endocarditis was suspected but these patients were not prepared with a 24-h low carbohydrate diet resulting in high physiologic FDG uptake of the myocardium. In one patient, FDG-PET had poor image quality due to high glucose levels caused by high-dose prednisone treatment

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