Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesDiagnostic or prognostic study
Comparison of 18F-FAPI-42 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for Detecting Cardiac Fibroblast Activation in Dilated Cardiomyopathy With Histopathology and CMR
- Diagnostic imaging feasibility study
Authors' conclusion
18F-FAPI PET is capable of detecting fibroblast activation in the myocardium of DCM, strongly correlating with histological markers and cardiac function parameters.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)14 also PET/CMR
- Participants
- 19 patients
- Comparison
- 18F-FAPI-42 PET vs CMR and histopathology
- DCMn = 19
- Outcome
- Feasibility of 18F-FAPI-42 PET for detecting myocardial fibroblast activation and fibrosis
Performance
As reported in the abstract
| Test or model | Abnormal segments |
|---|---|
| 18F-FAPI-42 PET | 168 |
| CMR-LGE | 95 |
Further findings
Correlation with histology (heart transplant patients)
- FAPI uptake strongly correlated with fibroblast activation protein (FAP) mean fluorescence intensity
- P < 0.001
- FAPI uptake correlated with collagen fiber deposition
- P < 0.05
- 4 patients transplanted 9 to 124 days after PET
Correlation with CMR function parameters
- FAPI uptake correlated with ESV, EDV, LVEF % and ECV %
By NYHA class (Ⅱ to Ⅳ)
- Metabolically active volume increased consistently
- SUVmax and total lesion FAPI increased then declined
Original publication
Comparison of 18F-FAPI-42 PET for Detecting Cardiac Fibroblast Activation in Dilated Cardiomyopathy With Histopathology and CMR. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. Published 30 July 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jcmg.2025.05.021
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it