title: Imaging of a case of metaplastic thymoma on 18F-FDG PET/CT.
abstract: Metaplastic thymoma is a rare primary thymic epithelial tumor. This report presents the 18F-FDG PET/CT appearance of a metaplastic thymoma developed in a 61-year-old female patient. The FDG uptake of the mediastinal mass showed a high maximum SUV, thus suggesting the possibility of thymic cancer. Surgical resection was performed for both a definitive diagnosis and treatment of the mediastinal tumor. A histological examination of the resected specimen revealed metaplastic thymoma. Although rare, thymoma should be carefully considered in the differential diagnosis in cases of mediastinal masses presenting with highly positive findings on 18F-FDG PET/CT to avoid any inappropriate patient management.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Thoracic Surgery, and †Radiological and Medical Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013945:Thymoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18