title: Extramedullary hematopoiesis on 18F-FDG PET/CT in a patient with thalassemia and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A case report and literature review.
abstract: Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) occurs in various bone marrow disorders and is most commonly seen in thalassemia and myelofibrosis. Here, we report a patient with beta-thalassemia and nasopharyngeal carcinoma having intrathoracic EMH. Our patient is a 42-year-old man who complained of chest discomfort for a month. He was confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma (T3N2M0) by histopathology and received chemoradiotherapy 4 months ago. The patient had a long history of beta-thalassemia and a splenectomy due to splenomegaly at 12 years of age. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest showed multiple soft tissue masses in bilateral thoracic cavities. 18F-FDG-PET showed no obvious increase of fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake by the lesions, with an SUVmax value of approximately 2.19. These lesions were considered EMH. The patient had been followed up for more than 1 year, and there were no changes of the lesions in the thoracic cavities.
authors.forename: Dasheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Liying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002277:Carcinoma; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006411:Hematopoiesis, Extramedullary; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18