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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · World J Nucl Med 2014; 13(02): 138-141
DOI: 10.4103/1450-1147.139147
Case report

Bilateral Diffuse Fluorodeoxyglucose Uptake in Thyroid Gland Diagnosed by Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography

Aung Win
Department of Radiology, Nuclear Medicine Section, San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
,
Carina Aparici
1   Department of Radiology, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA
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Our patient is a female who was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 23. A follow-up fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) at age 44 revealed diffuse high FDG uptake in an enlarged thyroid gland. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid mass revealed estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor negative, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2+ breast cancer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case to report breast cancer metastasis to the thyroid in a diffuse pattern on FDG-PET/CT. Bilateral diffuse uptake of FDG in thyroid is the most commonly associated with benign conditions. However, FNA biopsies need to be done to rule out metastatic disease in thyroid lesions with diffuse high FDG uptake, especially for patients with history of cancer.

Keywords

Breast cancer - diffuse - fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography - metastasis - thyroid


Publication History

Article published online:
23 May 2022

© 2014. Sociedade Brasileira de Neurocirurgia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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