Trial reportEuropean journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging2024
The effect of prednisolone and a short-term prednisolone discontinuation for the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT in polymyalgia rheumatica-a prospective study of 101 patients.
Trial report in European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04519580 (Improved Diagnostics and Monitoring of Polymyalgia Rheumatica), which is not on this map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Improved Diagnostics and Monitoring of Polymyalgia Rheumatica
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- EANM/SNMMI guideline/procedure standard for [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Guideline
- Article
- Diagnostic accuracy ofEuropean journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Value of Spinal Cord Lesion Metabolism on [European journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Clinical and laboratory predictors of diagnostic efficacy ofRheumatology international · 2026Article
- Ocular Manifestations of Giant Cell Arteritis.Advances in ophthalmology and optometry · 2025Article
- Whole-body and site specific [EJNMMI research · 2025Article
- Muscle Function, Muscle Disease, and Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Comment on: Immune checkpoint inhibitor-mediated polymyalgia rheumatica versus primary polymyalgia rheumatica: comparison of disease characteristics and treatment requirement. Reply.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- 18F-FDG-PET/CT for polymyalgia rheumatica: agreement and diagnostic accuracy of routine PET scan report vs. standardized PMR PET scores.Frontiers in nuclear medicine · 2025Article
- Current Insights and Future Perspectives for the Use of Serological Biomarkers in Polymyalgia Rheumatica.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Review
- Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Polymyalgia Rheumatica: When and for What-A Critical Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Diagnostic efficacy and necessity of 18F-FDG PET/CT in fever of unknown origin: insights from a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- The DANIsh VASculitis cohort study: protocol for a national multicenter prospective study including incident and prevalent patients with giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose2-[18F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) has been suggested as an imaging modality to diagnose polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). However, the applicability of FDG-PET/CT remains unclear, especially following glucocorticoid administration. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT before and during prednisolone treatment, as well as following short-term prednisolone discontinuation.
methodsTreatment naïve suspected PMR patients were clinically diagnosed at baseline and subsequently had an FDG-PET/CT performed. Patients diagnosed with PMR were administered prednisolone following the first FDG-PET/CT and had a second FDG-PET/CT performed after 8 weeks of treatment. Subsequently, prednisolone was tapered with short-term discontinuation at week 9 followed by a third FDG-PET/CT at week 10. An FDG-PET/CT classification of PMR/non-PMR was applied, utilizing both the validated Leuven score and a dichotomous PMR score. The final diagnosis was based on clinical follow-up after 1 year.
resultsA total of 68 and 27 patients received a final clinical diagnosis of PMR or non-PMR. A baseline FDG-PET/CT classified the patients as having PMR with a sensitivity/specificity of 86%/63% (Leuven score) and 82%/70% (dichotomous score). Comparing the subgroup of non-PMR with inflammatory diseases to the PMR group demonstrated a specificity of 39%/54% (Leuven/dichotomous score). After 8 weeks of prednisolone treatment, the sensitivity of FDG-PET/CT decreased to 36%/41% (Leuven/dichotomous score), while a short-term prednisolone discontinuation increased the sensitivity to 66%/60%.
conclusionFDG-PET/CT has limited diagnostic accuracy for differentiating PMR from other inflammatory diseases. If FDG-PET/CT is intended for diagnostic purposes, prednisolone should be discontinued to enhance diagnostic accuracy.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04519580). Registered 17th of August 2020.
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