The Clinical Usefulness of Nuclear Medicine Techniques in the Diagnosis of Vascular Graft Infections

The infection of a vascular prosthesis (VGI) is the most serious complication in prosthetic vascular reconstructive surgery, burdened by a high rate of mortality and morbidity. The treatment of a VGI, in most cases, consists of its surgical removal, and therefore an accurate diagnosis of the infection, is of paramount importance in clinical practice since false-positive results may lead to unnecessary major surgery whereas false-negative results are related with high-risk morbidity. Furthermore, early diagnosis of infection permits a wider range of therapeutic options and a less aggressive surgical approach. On the basis of the documents and abstracts published in the last 25 years, the authors analyze and discuss the contribution of nuclear medicine in the management of these infections, evaluating the reliability of scintigraphy with labeled leukocytes, other gamma-emitting radiopharmaceuticals, PET and PET / CT with 18F-Fluorodeoxiglucose.