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In 4 patients, an incidentaloma of the thyroid was found on 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET). In the first patient, a 73-year-old man, a medullary thyroid carcinoma was discovered during the staging procedure of a laryngeal carcinoma. In the second patient, an 81-year-old woman, a follicular thyroid carcinoma was found as a result of a FDG-PET evaluation of an adenocarcinoma of the lung. In the third patient, a 64-year-old woman, a papillary thyroid carcinoma was found during dissemination investigation after curative removal of an adrenocortical carcinoma. The last patient, a 78-year-old man, was found to have a thyroid incidentaloma on FDG-PET scan during staging of a recurrence of a gastrointestinal stromal tumour. Thyroid incidentalomas are present on 1.2-2.3% of FDG-PET scans. Further diagnostic work-up of these lesions by fine needle aspiration is warranted since up to 50% are malignant. However, whether these malignant thyroid lesions are relevant is not always clear. Treatment depends on the primary disease for which the FDG-PET scan was initially made. This requires good evaluation and discussion with the patient.

De prevalentie en de incidentie van neuro-endocriene tumoren stijgen gestaag. Er zijn grote verschillen tussen die tumoren onderling, o.a. wat de prognose betreft. De belangrijkste prognostische factoren zijn van pathologisch-anatomische aard, meer bepaald de mate van vermenigvuldiging gemeten met de Ki67-index en de mate van differentiatie. Andere factoren die invloed hebben op de overleving, zijn de ligging, het TNM-stadium, de leeftijd en de performance score van de patiënt op het ogenblik van de diagnose. We beschikken over meerdere biomarkers, maar die vertonen toch heel wat beperkingen. Functionele beeldvorming met 68Ga-DOTA-NOC/TATE/TOC en FDG-PET-scan is belangrijk bij het ramen van het risico. Er zijn meerdere biomarkers in het bloed en de weefsels in onderzoek. Mogelijk zullen die ons in de toekomst een beter idee van het risico geven en helpen bij de keuze van de behandeling.

In 4 patients, an incidentaloma of the thyroid was found on 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET). In the first patient, a 73-year-old man, a medullary thyroid carcinoma was discovered during the staging procedure ofa laryngeal carcinoma. In the second patient, an 81-year-old woman, a follicular thyroid carcinoma was found as a result of a FDG-PET evaluation of an adenocarcinoma of the lung. In the third patient, a 64-year-old woman, a papillary thyroid carcinoma was found during dissemination investigation after curative removal of an adrenocortical carcinoma. The last patient, a 78-year-old man, was found to have a thyroid incidentaloma on FDG-PET scan during staging ofa recurrence of a gastrointestinal stromal tumour. Thyroid incidentalomas are present on 1.2-2.3% of FDG-PET scans. Further diagnostic work-up of these lesions by fine needle aspiration is warranted since up to 50% are malignant. However, whether these malignant thyroid lesions are relevant is not always clear. Treatment depends on the primary disease for which the FDG-PET scan was initially made. This requires good evaluation and discussion with the patient.

In 4 patients, an incidentaloma of the thyroid was found on 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET). In the first patient, a 73-year-old man, a medullary thyroid carcinoma was discovered during the staging procedure of a laryngeal carcinoma. In the second patient, an 81-year-old woman, a follicular thyroid carcinoma was found as a result of a FDG-PET evaluation of an adenocarcinoma of the lung. In the third patient, a 64-year-old woman, a papillary thyroid carcinoma was found during dissemination investigation after curative removal of an adrenocortical carcinoma. The last patient, a 78-year-old man, was found to have a thyroid incidentaloma on FDG-PET scan during staging of a recurrence of a gastrointestinal stromal tumour. Thyroid incidentalomas are present on 1.2-2.3% of FDG-PET scans. Further diagnostic work-up of these lesions by fine needle aspiration is warranted since up to 50% are malignant. However, whether these malignant thyroid lesions are relevant is not always clear. Treatment depends on the primary disease for which the FDG-PET scan was initially made. This requires good evaluation and discussion with the patient.

A 65-year-old patient with systemic lupus erythematodes (SLE) developed fever and gonarthritis whilst taking prednisone and hydrochloroquine. Salmonella typhimurium, sensitive to amoxicillin, was grown in cultures of synovial fluid, blood and urine. After high dosages of intravenous amoxicillin, blood cultures and knee punctate became negative, but fever seemingly without a clinical focus persisted. By means of a fluoro-18-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan, an abscess was located in the left upper leg and successfully treated. In patients with impaired cell-mediated immunity, an extra-intestinal manifestation of Salmonella should be taken into consideration particularly if there appears to be no clinical focus. This may be detected by FDG-PET.

According to current dementia guidelines from 2005 (CBO) functional brain imaging by PET-scan of the brain has no place in the analysis of a dementia syndrome. Differential diagnosis between Alzheimer disease and other causes of dementia remains important because there are differences in natural course and treatment. Here we present three patients aged 62, 71 and 68 years with dementia syndrome who were assessed at an outpatient memory clinic. After geriatric assessment and subsequent brain MRI the etiology of the dementia remained unclear. In all three patients the etiology became clear after using a 18 FDG PET-scan of the brain. We conclude that 18 FDG PET imaging of the brain has added value in the analysis of dementia syndrome with an unclear etiology after initial analysis.

A 65-year-old patient with systemic lupus erythematodes (SLE) developed fever and gonarthritis whilst taking prednisone and hydrochloroquine. Salmonella typhimurium, sensitive to amoxicillin, was grown in cultures of synovial fluid, blood and urine. After high dosages of intravenous amoxicillin, blood cultures and knee punctate became negative, but fever seemingly without a clinical focus persisted. By means of a fluoro-18-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan, an abscess was located in the left upper leg and successfully treated. In patients with impaired cell-mediated immunity, an extra-intestinal manifestation of Salmonella should be taken into consideration particularly if there appears to be no clinical focus. This may be detected by FDG-PET.

A 57-year-old male patient, recently known with an anal carcinoma with inguinal lymph node involvement, was admitted because of anorexia, nausea, vomiting and constipation. On physical examination the patient was dehydrated, and a systolic murmur, grade III/VI, punctum maximum apex cordis, was heard. Serum calcium was raised (4.50 mmol/l), as was the serum creatinine (328 mumol/l). Both values had been normal 14 days before admission. Serum parathormone was suppressed. A bone scan did not reveal evident lesions in the skeleton. FDG-PET scan showed uptake of the tracer into the bone marrow. A bone biopsy showed metastasis of a squamous cell carcinoma. Shortly after that the patient died. Hypercalcaemia is associated with cancer. Colorectal/anal carcinomas have a low incidence of hypercalcaemia. The prognosis of patients with cancer associated with hypercalcaemia is poor.