Estudio PET/TC en patología inflamatoria-infecciosa

objective. to demonstrate the utility of pet/ct in infectious and inflammatory diseases. materials and methods. we evaluated retrospectively five patients with infectious and inflammatory pathology, by pet/ct scan (hybrid siemens-biograph 16, siemens, erlangen, germany) in the period between january 2009 and may 2011. results. case 1: a 68-year-old woman presented with a 6- months duration fever, fatigue, and weight loss. the rheumatologic examination showed a decrease in both radial pulses with no other associated symptoms. she underwent a temporal artery biopsy, which confirmed temporal arteritis. a pet/ct scan showed significant uptake in the thoracic aorta and major branches. case 2: an 85-year-old patient with fever of unknown origin (fuo) was studied suspecting osteomyelitis of the hip, but on the contrary, pet/ct demonstrated an avid enhancement indicative of gluteal cellulitis and pneumonia, ruling out bone infection. case 3: a 35-year-old woman with evening fever. pet/ct scan showed enlarged multiple fdg-avid mediastinal, axillary and retroperitoneal lymph nodes, as well as diffuse involvement of the spleen with multiple calcifications. diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection was confirmed by positive immunoglobulin g and m. case 4: a 39-year-old patient with hiv-infection presented with hypercalcemia. pet/ct scan showed buttocks silicone implants with associated avid inflammatory process, confirmed by biopsy. case 5: a 45-year-old female with previous history of breast cancer under follow-up presented in recent ct scans enlarged mediastinal and supraclavicular lymph nodes, as well as diffuse multifocal splenic involvement, all of them avid on pet / ct examination. sarcoidosis was confirmed by a supraclavicular node excision biopsy. conclusions. pet/ct is a noninvasive diagnostic tool useful for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with fuo. especially in patients with vasculitis, it may change decisions without needing a diagnostic biopsy, as it is consi