title: Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis as only pathological finding at FDG-PET/CT in case of tumor marker elevation in breast cancer.
abstract: Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis is an infrequent disease and although its treatment is palliative, earlier diagnosis will lead to prolonged survival and improve functional outcome. Whole-body FDG-PET allows the entire spinal cord to be examined noninvasively, so close attention should be paid to the spinal canal, since these lesions can easily be mistaken for physiologic uptake, sometimes there is no clinical suspicion and may occur without concurrent active cancer. We present a female patient with a history of carcinoma of the breast, who presented an elevation of serum tumor marker CA 15-3. An FDG-PET/CT study only revealed multiple abnormal uptake at the vertebral foramen at thoracic and lumbosacral regions suggesting leptomeningeal metastases that were confirmed by MRI and cerebrospinal fluid cytology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria Luz Dominguez
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Grande
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Ignacio
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Rayo
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Justo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Rafael
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Infante
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duran
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital Universitario "Infanta Cristina", Badajoz, Spain.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gomez-Caminero
keywords: Breast cancer; FDG-PET/CT; leptomeningeal carcinomatosis; metastases