Is carotid plaque inflammation assessed with ( 18 ) F-FDG PET/CT higher in symptomatic compared with asymptomatic patients?
(18)F-FDG uptake on PET/CT correlated with histological assessments of inflammation and was higher in patients with symptomatic compared with asymptomatic carotid artery plaques. These results support the use of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in the detection inflammation in carotid atherosclerosis, which may be of help in the detection of vulnerable plaques.
Dual blockade of the RAS with ARB II plus aliskiren therapy demonstrated an additive effect to decrease severe proteinuria and blood pressure in kidney transplant recipients. Neither relevant adverse effects in renal function nor anemia or hyperkalemia were observed. These findings might contribute to prolonging long-term kidney graft survival.