18F-FLUORIDE PET/CT AS AN EARLY PREDICTOR OF BONY FUSION AFTER POSTERIOR LUMBAR INTERBODY FUSION

The clinical success of posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) may be limited by pseudarthrosis, defined as the absence of solid fusion 1 year after surgery. Currently, CT is used to diagnose pseudarthrosis but is not able to be conclusive earlier than 1 year after surgery. No non-invasive technique is available to reliably assess bone graft incorporation in the early phase after PLIF.Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear imaging modality that is able to identify changes at the cellular and molecular level in an early stage, well before manifestation of anatomical changes. PET/CT with the bone seeking tracer 18F-fluoride allows localization and quantification of bone metabolism.This study investigates whether an 18F-fluoride PET/CT scan early after PLIF is able to predict the fusion status at 1 year postoperative on CT.Twenty patients after PLIF were enrolled after written informed consent. At 6 weeks and at 1 year after PLIF, intravenous injection of 18F-fluoride was followed by a static scan...