Open AccessRole of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in a case of renal cell carcinoma to differentiate tumor thrombus from bland thrombus
Author(s) -
Sunita Nitin Sonavane,
Gaurav Malhotra,
Ramesh Asopa,
Trupti Upadhye
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
indian journal of nuclear medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.261
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 0972-3919
pISSN - 0974-0244
DOI - 10.4103/0972-3919.164016
Subject(s) - medicine , thrombus , renal cell carcinoma , inferior vena cava , radiology , renal vein , positron emission tomography , fluorodeoxyglucose , nuclear medicine , kidney , pathology
Tumor thrombus is a rare complication of many solid tumors. We present a case of renal cell carcinoma whose baseline contrast-enhanced computerized tomography (CT) revealed an heterogeneously enhancing mass in the upper half of right kidney with tumor thrombus in the right renal vein extending to suprarenal inferior vena cava (IVC), crossing the cavoatrial junction and reaching up to the right atrium (Grade IV). Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging revealed large irregular right renal mass, hypermetabolic tumor thrombus extending from the right renal vein to suprarenal IVC reaching up to the right atrium. There was no FDG uptake noted in the infrarenal IVC and bilateral iliofemoral venous thrombi. Thus, 18F-FDG PET/CT was not only helpful in the staging, but was also helpful in differentiating tumor thrombus from bland thrombus in our patient.