"Hepatic Superscan" Revealed on 18 F-FDG PET Due to Drug-Induced Fulminant Hepatitis.

Abstract: "Hepatic superscan" could be caused by a variety of etiologies. Here we report a 68-year-old woman with a medication history of cefoperazone and azithromycin for pneumonia recently who underwent 18 F-FDG PET/CT to detect underlying malignancy due to unexplained liver damage and fever of unknown origin. Unexpectedly, "hepatic superscan" without morphologic changes was noted. Unfortunately, aggressive treatment did not reverse the damaged liver function, and the patient rapidly died. Drug-induced fulminant hepatitis was diagnosed clinically. Our case demonstrates that fulminant hepatitis could result in "hepatic superscan" on 18 F-FDG PET despite negative findings on the ultrasonography, CT, and MRI.
Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: none declared. This work is partially funded by the Medical Research Program of Sichuan Medical Association (S22083), Youth Innovation Project of Sichuan Medical Association (Q2201), and Nature Science Foundation of Hebei Province (H2020206422).
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