Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of heparin in suppressing physiological myocardial FDG uptake in PET/CT

Background: The present meta-analysis aims to investigate the effectiveness of heparin administration in suppressing physiological myocardial ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), as its role in this regard has not been well investigated.

Methods: PRISMA guidelines were used to interrogate the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, Web of Knowledge, and www.clinicaltrail.gov databases from the earliest records to March 2023. The final analysis included five randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Meta-analysis was conducted to compare the effectiveness of unfractionated heparin (UFH) administration versus non-UFH administration, and subgroup analysis based on fixed and variable fasting durations was conducted. Effect sizes were pooled using a random-effects model, and the pooled odds ratios (ORs) were calculated.

Results: Five eligible RCTs with a total of 910 patients (550 with heparin, 360 without heparin) were included. The forest plot analysis initially indicated no significant difference in the suppression of myocardial FDG uptake between the UFH and non-UFH groups (OR 2.279, 95% CI 0.593 to 8.755, p = 0.23), with a high degree of statistical heterogeneity (I² = 91.16%). Further subgroup analysis showed that the fixed fasting duration group with UFH administration had statistically significant suppression of myocardial FDG uptake (OR 4.452, 95% CI 1.221 to 16.233, p = 0.024), while the varying fasting duration group did not show a significant effect.

Conclusions: According to the findings of our meta-analysis, we suggest that intravenous administration of UFH can be considered as a supplementary approach to suppress myocardial FDG uptake.