Positron emission tomography with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose is a useful tool for the diagnosis of pheochromocytomas without distant metastasis, where malignancy is suspected on the basis of histopathologic analysis.
A 69-year-old woman, who had been undergoing treatment for hypertension, was admitted to the hospital for the evaluation of a tumor in the right adrenal gland and of episodic hypertension. She was diagnosed with pheochromocytoma on the basis of elevated urine catecholamine and metabolite concentrations and positron emission tomography (PET) results; however, the results of I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG) scintigraphy were negative. The patient underwent laparoscopic right adrenalectomy. Malignancy was suspected on the basis of histopathologic studies. After surgery, the elevated catecholamine and metabolite concentrations and the blood pressure returned to normal; furthermore, the symptoms, including severe headache, reduced. The authors report a case of pheochromocytoma that was suspected to be malignant on the basis of histopathologic analysis and was detected by F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET but not by MIBG. Thus, FDG-PET may be a prognostic marker for malignant pheochromocytomas with or without metastasis.
Kikuchi
Fumi
F
Departments of Internal Medicine, Kagawa University, Kita-gun, Japan.
Imachi
Hitomi
H
Murao
Koji
K
Ohyama
Tomoyo
T
Miyai
Yumi
Y
Kushida
Yoshio
Y
Haba
Reiji
R
Kakehi
Yoshiyuki
Y
Ishida
Toshihiko
T
D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine; D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D019797:3-Iodobenzylguanidine