Food residue granuloma mimicking metastatic disease on FDG-PET/CT

Jpn J Radiol. 2013 May;31(5):349-51. doi: 10.1007/s11604-013-0184-x. Epub 2013 Feb 6.

Abstract

A 31-year-old woman presenting with acute abdomen underwent an emergency Hartmann's procedure for fecal peritonitis due to perforated adenocarcinoma of the left colon. Shortly after a 7-month course of adjuvant chemotherapy, follow-up contrast-enhanced CT showed multiple peritoneal and hepatic nodules, showing focal intense and homogeneous FDG uptake on FDG-PET/CT, highly suspected for recurrence of disease. Excisional biopsy of the nodules revealed foreign body granulomas made up of alimentary materials surrounded by a fibrous wall. We report a unique case of a false-positive finding secondary to food residues mimicking metastatic disease on FDG-PET in a patient with colon cancer.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Colonic Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18*
  • Food*
  • Granuloma, Foreign-Body / diagnosis*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / diagnosis*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*

Substances

  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18