Importance of SPECT/CT images in a case to differentiate a chest wall soft tissue infection from pneumonia on 111In-tagged WBC scintigraphy

Clin Nucl Med. 2014 Jun;39(6):561-3. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000000433.

Abstract

A 52-year-old man presented to the emergency department with a 3-day history of fevers and left flank pain radiating to the chest and neck. Total WBC count was 20,000/uL. Abdominal CT demonstrated small bibasilar pleural effusions. Because of persistent leukocytosis, an In WBC scintigram was ordered 5 days after admission, which demonstrated thoracic WBC accumulation on the planar images that localized to the left posterior chest wall on SPECT/CT. SPECT/CT may differentiate intrathoracic versus extrathoracic disease.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Humans
  • Indium Radioisotopes*
  • Leukocyte Count
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multimodal Imaging
  • Pneumonia / blood
  • Pneumonia / diagnostic imaging*
  • Soft Tissue Infections / blood*
  • Soft Tissue Infections / diagnostic imaging*
  • Thoracic Wall / diagnostic imaging
  • Thoracic Wall / pathology*
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed*

Substances

  • Indium Radioisotopes