Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of included patients (n = 110)
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Age (years) | 9.0 (12.0)a |
| 0–5 years | 42 |
| 6–11 years | 24 |
| 12–18 years | 44 |
| Number of boys:girls | 54:56 |
| Previous medical history | |
| No medical history | 26 |
| Previous episode of unexplained fever | 6 |
| Hepatobiliary disease | 22 |
| Recurrent ear/nose/throat infections | 7 |
| Cardiac abnormality | 15 |
| Chromosomal abnormality | 8 |
| Other | 26 |
| Transplant recipient | |
| Liver transplant | 4 |
| Bone marrow transplant | 2 |
| Heart transplant | 1 |
| Immunocompromised | |
| Taking immunosuppressants | 11 |
| Duration of febrile illness before FDG-PET/CT (days) | 25 (31)a |
| Mortality within 3 months after FDG-PET/CT | 8b |
| FDG-PET/CT scan from head to | |
| Proximal femur | 59 |
| Knee | 8 |
| Toes | 43 |
| FDG-PET/CT characteristics | |
| Low-dose unenhanced CT | 110 |
| Full-dose contrast-enhanced CT | 13 |
| Blood glucose level before scan (mmol/L) | 4.9 (1.0)a |
| Radioactive dose used (MBq) | 86 (101)a |
aMedian (interquartile range)
bCauses of death: (1) liver and kidney failure, (2) thrombotic liver disease, (3) hepatic encephalopathy, (4) bone marrow failure due to mitochondrial myopathy and sideroblastic anemia, (5) cardiac shunt thrombosis, (6) massive pulmonary bleeding, (7) hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, (8) hepatopulmonary syndrome