The role of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in patients with mycosis fungoides

• DOI: 10.4103/0972-3919.158527
• Publication Date: 2015-06-11T13:26:22Z
• Authors: Sharjeel Usmani; Eiman Alanteri; Fahad Marafi; Abulredha Esmail; Abdullah Ali; RehabS Elhagracy; Salem Alshemmari
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Original Article; 3. Good health

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the possible role of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET-CT) in the management of mycosis fungoides (MF).Nineteen patients (mean age, 40.6 years; median age 41 years; 16 males and 3 females) with risk of secondary lymph node (LN) involvement (those with large cell transformation, tumors, erythroderma, or enlarged LNs on physical examination) were included in the study. All patients underwent PET-CT scan by injecting 0.06 mCi/kg of F18 FDG. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) was recorded for each patient.The (18)F-FDG PET-CT was positive in 15 patients. PET-CT detected local cutaneous disease in 13 cases. The range of SUVmax is 2.8-14.1. Out of 19 patients, hypermetabolic adenopathy is found in 9 patients and visceral involvement in one.Although the study population is small our findings suggests that (18)F-FDG PET-CT can detect cutaneous and extracutaneous lesions in MF and may guide biopsies especially in patients with risk of secondary LN involvement.