Spindle cell sarcoma of pulmonary artery mimicking thromboembolism with lung metastasis detected in fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography.
Pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS), although rare, must be considered in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE). This tumor is highly malignant and the prognosis is very poor. As much as the standardized uptake values (SUVs) at fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) have helped in differentiating between benign and malignant tumors, visualization of a low-attenuation filling defect within a pulmonary artery on contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) can be suggestive of a malignancy, such as PAS, if the lesion shows high FDG uptake at PET. We present a case of PAS that showed high FDG uptake on integrated FDG PET/CT and with lung metastasis. Patient underwent endoscopic bronchial ultrasound-transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA), which confirmed spindle cell sarcoma.
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital Limited, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Koramadai Karuppusamy
KK
Kamaleshwaran
Department of Pulmonology, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital Limited, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Vr
V
Pattabiraman
Department of Pathology, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital Limited, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Sangita
S
Mehta
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital Limited, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Vyshakh
V
Mohanan
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital Limited, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Ajit Sugunan
AS
Shinto
18-fluorodeoxyglucose; pulmonary artery; spindle cell sarcoma; thromboembolism; uptake