[A case of solitary splenic metastasis following operation for pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma: detected at an early stage by FDG-PET].
A 58-year-old man was admitted our hospital. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed a nodular opacity in the left upper lobe and a swollen lymph node in the left hilar region. 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) showed abnormal uptakes in the same field. Since thoracoscopic lung biopsy revealed that the tumor was poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, a left upper lobectomy and lymph node dissection were performed. Histological findings showed numerous spindle cells, thus it was diagnosed as pleomorphic carcinoma, pT2N1M0. After three months, a FDG-PET was performed, which detected a tiny lesion in the spleen. However an abdominal CT scan and ultrasonography (US) performed in the same period showed no abnormal findings. After about 2 months, a solitary low density area (5.0 cm) was seen in the spleen on an abdominal CT scan. We performed splenectomy under a diagnosis of a solitary splenic metastasis of the lung cancer. Pathological confirmation was obtained. Our findings demonstrated that whole-body scanning by FDG-PET was able to detect a rare postoperative splenic recurrence earlier than CT or US scan.
Fujii
Masaru
M
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, School of Medicine.
Tanaka
Hiroshi
H
Sawazumi
Tomoe
T
Nakamura
Naoto
N
Takahashi
Mamoru
M
Inomata
Shin-Ichiro
S
Chiba
Hirofumi
H
Takahashi
Hiroki
H
D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013160:Splenic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary*
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18