Study of distribution of brown adipose tissue in PET scans of oncological versus non oncological cases

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has thermogenic potential. For its activation, cold exposure is considered a critical factor though other determinants have also been reported. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between neoplastic (Oncological) or infective/ inflammatory (Non oncological) status and BAT activity by 2-deoxy-2-(¹⁸F)fluoro- D-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients from Indian population coming for ¹⁸F FDG PET CT, where the influence of outdoor temperature has variations. A retrospective study was done on 25 PET Scans (n=25). The scans were studied for distribution of BAT in the body. The distribution of BAT was compared between the scans of Oncological cases and Non oncological cases. The distribution of activated BAT was compared between patients with inflammatory/ infective disease and cancer patient. The distribution of BAT was found more in few areas like : BAT found between anterior neck muscles and supraclavicular fossa in all cases irrespective of Oncological / Non oncological status. More around solid organs in scans of Oncological patients. The Tests of Significance was performed to see if the finding is significant or not. P value calculated was < 0.0001. Since P value is < 0.05, the finding is significant suggesting distribution of BAT more around solid organs in Oncological cases compare to Non oncological cases. Neoplastic or infective/inflammatory status is not a critical determinant of BAT activity in Indian population. (author)