We recommend the utilization of 18F-FDG PET/CT to improve the primary staging work-up of immunocompromised patients with IFI and to assess treatment effectiveness or disease relapse. Both 18F-FDG PET/CT and conventional imaging should be integrated into a well-defined imaging diagnostic algorithm considering the clinical context and both strengths and limitations of each diagnostic modality.
A 65-year-old woman was addressed for clinical and biological suspicion of ovarian cancer relapse. 18 F-FDG PET/CT revealed massive peritoneal carcinomatosis. Post-chemotherapy PET/CT showed complete metabolic response in initial localizations albeit three new 18 F-FDG uptakes appeared in the mesentery and in the retro-hepatic space. Close follow-up (including PET/ CT scan) and surgical examination of the abdominal cavity confirmed the absence of malignancy and the benign nature of these lesions, which appeared to be peritoneal fibrosis mimicking persistent carcinomatosis.
We report the case of a 23-year-old man with nodal EMH (extramedullary hematopoiesis) occurring during treatment for a stage IIA “gray-zone” lymphoma. Although it is often related to myeloproliferative bone marrow disease, benign etiologies such as lenograstim treatment after chemotherapy can also induce EMH and be responsible for false-positive 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations. In this respect, GLUT overexpression in hematopoietic lineages and macrophages of the inflammatory environment are responsible for increased 18F-FDG uptake. Histopathologic confirmation of new hypermetabolic lesions on follow-up PET/CT may be required when the new lesions do not conform with the treatment responses in the preexisting lesions.
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