title: A case of pulmonary cholesterol granuloma: an (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography image.
abstract: A 77-year-old woman with Sjögren's syndrome has been followed for mild interstitial pneumonia. A 2-cm pulmonary nodule was incidentally found in the left lower lobe, and positron emission tomography-computed tomography showed (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake with a maximum standardized uptake value of 8.78 in this nodule. Although this suggested a malignant disease, transbronchial biopsy of the nodule revealed that it was cholesterol granuloma. It is known that some benign inflammatory diseases show an increased uptake of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose, particularly granulomatous lesions like tuberculosis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography findings for cholesterol granuloma. We speculate that increased (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake with cholesterol granuloma occurs through cellular infiltration and macrophage proliferation, resulting in the activation of glycolysis-like tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Shiga, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Takuto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakashita
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shigemori
authors.forename: Taishi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagao
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006099:Granuloma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D002784:Cholesterol