Asymptomatic COVID–19 cancer patients incidentally discovered during F18-FDG PET/CT monitoring (original) (raw)

18F-FDG PET/CT in asymptomatic patients with COVID-19: The submerged iceberg surfaces

Purpose: the aim of this case series is to describe our experience in diagnosis and management of oncological asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 submitted to 18F-FDG PET/CT.Methods: from March 9 to March 31, 2020, we identified 5 patients who had PET/CT findings suspicious for COVID-19, but no symptom of infection.Results: the first three patients performed SARS-CoV-2 test in a COVID-dedicated centre, while the fourth and fifth in our Institution, in agreement with a new internal procedure. The SARS-CoV-2 test yielded positive results in all five patients.Conclusions: in this COVID-19 emergency, our task as nuclear medicine physicians is to be able to identify imaging findings suggestive of the disease and to manage patients without overload the hospital system.

Unknown SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia detected by PET/CT in patients with cancer

Tumori Journal

Introduction: In January 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy necessitated rigorous application of more restrictive safety procedures in the management and treatment of patients with cancer to ensure patient and staff protection. Identification of respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was a challenge during the pandemic owing to a large number of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients. Methods: We report 5 patients with unknown SARS-CoV-2 infection undergoing positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) with radiopharmaceuticals targeting different tumor processes: 18F-FDG, 18F-choline (FCH), and 68Ga-PSMA. Results: In all patients, PET/CT showed increased tracer uptake in the lungs corresponding to CT findings of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Quantitative assessment of tracer uptake showed more elevated values for the glucose analogue 18F-FDG (mean SUVmax 5.4) than for the other tracers (mean SUVmax 3.5). Conclusions: Our f...

Value of PET/CT and MATLAB in Detection of COVID-19 in an Oncology Patient - Case Report

American Journal of Internal Medicine, 2020

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the infectious disease COVID-19, was declared a global pandemic in March 2020. The SARS-CoV-2 infection has polymorphic clinical presentations. The real time PCR is the reference diagnostic test; however, it can only detect the presence of virus for a specific window of time and its sensitivity has been reported as low as 60–70%. Case: We report a clinical case for a 28-year-old male patient. His clinical history included known NHL (large B-cell lymphoma) that treated with chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplant in 2017. He initially presented with fewer, URTI (upper respiratory infection) and weight loss to have a PET/CT scan for restaging. The follow up PET/CT scan, suggested no worrisome FDG metabolic activity elsewhere to suggest disease recurrence, though, hypermetabolic mediastinal lymph nodes, which were kept with active infectious process and bilateral FDG-avid ground glass attenuation ...