title: Demonstrations of AIDS-associated malignancies and infections at FDG PET-CT.
abstract: HIV infection results in profound alterations of immunologic function that render the patient severely immunocompromised, and susceptible to malignancies and opportunistic infections. Three AIDS-defining malignancies include Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and invasive cervical cancer. In AIDS patients, KS is often aggressive and multifocal, with visceral involvement and widespread cutaneous and nodal spread; NHL is always high grade and often widely disseminated at the time of diagnosis with frequent involvement of extranodal sites; cervical cancer is invasive and has greater likelihood of progression and metastasis. Although there are very sparse systemic data available in the literature, limited studies has shown that FDG PET-CT is a valuable imaging technique in the diagnosis, staging, restaging and monitoring therapeutic response in these malignancies. In addition, a unique application of FDG PET/CT is the differentiation of cerebral lesions between lymphoma and toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients, which cannot be reliably achieved with either CT or MRI. HIV-associated opportunistic infections may involve different pathogens and multiple tissues, organs or systems. Some preliminary observations have revealed a promising role of FDG PET-CT in the diagnosis and identification of these infections such as tuberculosis, fever of unknown origin, pneumocystis pneumonia and candidiasis. However, it should be stressed that FDG PET-CT alone has no role in identifying the pathology of abnormalities. FDG PET-CT, at best, can localize the sites of abnormalities and impact on patient's management in clinical decision making.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Service, Department of Radiology, University Hospital, H-141, UMDNJ, 150 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ 07103, USA. liuyl@umdnj.edu
authors.forename: Yiyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D009894:Opportunistic Infections; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18