Open AccessRadiation Recall Pneumonitis on FDG PET/CT Triggered by COVID-19 Vaccination
Author(s) -
Niall Hughes,
Mark M. Hammer,
Mark M. Awad,
Heather A. Jacene
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
clinical nuclear medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.637
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1536-0229
pISSN - 0363-9762
DOI - 10.1097/rlu.0000000000003980
Subject(s) - medicine , pneumonitis , radiation therapy , adenocarcinoma , radiology , lung , pembrolizumab , biopsy , radiation pneumonitis , nuclear medicine , lung cancer , cancer , pathology , immunotherapy
A 67-year-old man with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma was initially treated with whole-brain radiotherapy for intracranial metastases, followed by chemotherapy and pembrolizumab. After completing 2 years of systemic therapy, the primary right lung lesion was biopsy-proven to have residual adenocarcinoma, which was then treated with radiation (6000 cGy in 15 fractions). Follow-up serial FDG PET/CT showed radiation fibrosis. Eighteen months after radiotherapy, the patient received 2 doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. FDG PET/CT performed 4 days following his second vaccine dose showed FDG-avid multistation lymphadenopathy and radiation recall pneumonitis, likely vaccination-induced and mimicking recurrent disease. This resolved spontaneously without therapy.