PET/CT and infection imaging - A guide for radiology and nuclear medicine residents: When the diagnosis isn't tumor

Learning Objectives Quiz format is used for teaching purposes. Correlative imaging, clinical findings, and results from the literature will also be reviewed. Case topics reviewed will include nodal patterns of disease spread in tumor and infection, SUV values expected in tumor and infection imaging, fluid collections - tumor mets or spread of infection, unexpected findings - are these more likely to be from tumor or infection.

PET/CT is often used in the diagnosis and staging of known tumors. However, some findings found at PET/CT could be from other causes, such as infection. This is not an uncommon scenario. Moreover, infections in immune compromised patients can quickly become severe. Misdiagnosis can have severe consequences to the patient, both due to incorrect upstaging of tumor and non treatment of unsuspected infection. The information provided here should assist trainees and the inexperienced in sorting through these findings