*4.3. Imaging Techniques*

Patients fasted at least 6 h (demanded glucose level <160 mg/dL). Prior to the injection of approximately 250 MBq 18F-FDG whole-body, 18F-FDG-PET/CT images were acquired using a Biograph 64 TruePoint w/TrueV and Biograph mCT Flow 20-4R PET/CT scanner (Siemens, Healthcare GmbH, Erlangen, Germany) and were initiated approximately 60 min after intravenous tracer administration. After intravenous injection of a contrast agent (Ultravist 300, Bayer Vital GmbH, Leverkusen, Germany or Imeron 350, 2.5 mL/s, Bracco Imaging Deutschland GmbH, Konstanz, Germany) diagnostic CT scans of the neck, thorax, abdomen and pelvis (100–190 mAs; 120 kV) were acquired.

To depict the venous phase, initiation of CT acquisition was delayed 90 s after injection of the contrast agent.
