A 59-year-old transexual (male to female) patient presented with a squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. She underwent an F-FDG PET/CT for initial staging. The examination showed high F-FDG uptake of the primary lesion and a homolateral lymphadenopathy. Incidental heterogeneous uptake of round hyperdense lesions in the gluteal muscles and subcutaneous fat was visualized. The medical history revealed secondly that the patient had had free liquid silicone injections 30 years before the examination. Although the injection of free silicone is not practised since the 1980s, this incidental finding should prompt to check the patient's medical history over several decades.
Background
Thrombocytopenia occurs in 60% of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), increasing the risk of life-threatening haemorrhage in this population of mainly old patients with comorbidities. However, data are scare regarding immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) secondary to MDS.
Aim
We analyzed the utility of indium-111 platelet scintigraphy (IPS) to better characterize the mechanisms of thrombocytopenia in 21 adult patients with MDS.
Methods
Adult patients with a definite diagnosis of MDS according to the international criteria who underwent IPS between 2009 and 2018 because of an increased bleeding risk were retrospectively selected. Autologous 111Indium platelet labelling was performed with a technique similar to that described previously using a standardized method.
Results
Platelet lifespan ≤ 6 days identified patients with peripheral platelet destruction. Taking into account the response to ITP-directed therapies after IPS, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of IPS were 100%, 84.6%, 80%, and 100%, respectively.
Conclusion
We show that IPS can be a useful tool to identify the mechanism and guide treatment of a chronic thrombocytopenia increasing the bleeding risk in patients with MDS.
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