[ ¹⁸ F]NaF PET/CT Imaging of Iliac Bones to Assess Bone Turnover.

Molecular imaging and biology [Mol Imaging Biol] 2025 Jun; Vol. 27 (3), pp. 295-304. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Apr 24.

Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical Approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in regard to this study.
Purpose: This study investigated the effects of laterality, age, gender, BMI, and physical activity level on iliac bone turnover using [ ¹⁸ F]NaF PET/CT.
Procedures: Fifty-nine males and 44 females from the CAMONA study were analyzed. A region of interest (ROI) was drawn to segment the iliac bone using Hounsfield unit thresholds and morphological closing algorithm. [ ¹⁸ F]NaF SUVmean was compared between the left and right iliac bones using a paired t-test, while Pearson correlation coefficient assessed changes with age, BMI, and physical activity level.
Results: [ ¹⁸ F]NaF uptake was higher in right iliac bone than left in males, females, and the combined-group. In males, SUVmean was 2.98 ± 1.63 (1.1-7.87) on left and 3.71 ± 1.49 (1.49-3.7) on right. In females, SUVmean was 2.59 ± 1.14 (0.88-6.27) on left and 3.72 ± 1.04 (2.22-6.51) on right. Combined, SUVmean was 2.81 ± 1.44 (0.88-7.87) on left and 3.71 ± 1.31 (0.89-8.07) on right. [ ¹⁸ F]NaF uptake negatively correlated with age (right: r = - 0.27, P = 0.006; left: r = - 0.22, P = 0.02), stronger in females (right: r = - 0.30, P = 0.04; left: r = - 0.31, P = 0.04) than males (right: r = - 0.26, P = 0.04; left: r = - 0.18, P = 0.18). SUVmean correlated positively with BMI in males (right: r = 0.47, P = 0.0002; left: r = 0.38, P = 0.0027), females (right: r = 0.36, P = 0.0168; left: r = 0.30, P = 0.0505), and combined-group (right: r = 0.43, P < 0.0001; left: r = 0.37, P = 0.0001). No significant correlation was found between SUVmean and physical activity in males, while in females, a negative correlation was observed on left (r = - 0.37, P = 0.0390) but not on right (r = - 0.27, P = 0.1302), and when combined, the correlation remained significant on left (r = - 0.24, P = 0.0372) but not on right (r = - 0.16, P = 0.1541).
Conclusions: [ ¹⁸ F]NaF uptake was higher in the right iliac bone and declined with age, particularly in females. The positive correlation between SUVmean and BMI; and the negative correlation between SUVmean and physical activity suggest metabolic influences on bone turnover. [ ¹⁸ F]NaF PET/CT may serve as a tool for assessing bone metabolism and turnover in asymptomatic individuals.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)

English

Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101125610 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1860-2002 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 15361632 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Mol Imaging Biol Subsets: MEDLINE

Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography*/methods , Ilium*/diagnostic imaging , Sodium Fluoride*/chemistry , Fluorine Radioisotopes*/chemistry , Bone Remodeling*, Humans ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Aged

20250617