Objectives: We evaluated general and common characteristics of patients that were referred to Positron Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography (PET/CT) with suspicious lung lesions, then diagnosed as sarcoidosis, in order to determine the contribution of PET/CT to differential diagnosis.
Material and Methods: 7 patients who underwent PET/CT examinations for lung lesions between January 2010 and June 2014, then pathologically diagnosed as sarcoidosis were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: All seven patients had bilateral mediastinal lymph node positivity, six patients had multiple pulmonary parenchymal lesions. Extrathoracic lymph node involvement was determined in three patients. Two patients had hepatic involvement, one had focal nodular and the other one had diffuse hepatic involvement. Three patients had splenic involvement, one with appearance of multiple nodules, diffuse uptake pattern was determined in the other two. Bone involvement was found in two patients. SUVmax range was 3.2 to 20.7 (median: 6.9) for thoracic or extrathoracic lesions of the whole seven patients.
Conclusion: Granulomatous diseases should be kept in mind in case of existence of extrathoracic lymphadenopathy, liver and spleen involvement in addition to lung lesions. PET/CT is helpful in identifying easily accessible biopsy sites, especially for patients with extensive disease. With whole body imaging, metabolic activity and the extent of the disease can be determined with high accuracy. Despite the adoption of many advantages such as post treatment follow-up, determining activation in chronic disease and biopsy site, PET/CT is not placed yet in routine practice. In order to replace algorithms well-organized, prospective clinical trials are needed.
Key words: Sarcoidosis; FDG; PET; Lymphoma; Lung.
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