Epidural Metastases From Follicular Thyroid Cancer Mimicking Meningiomas in 68Ga-DOTATATE PET

Clin Nucl Med. 2017 Oct;42(10):805-806. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000001793.

Abstract

We report a woman with multifocal lesions suggestive of meningiomas in MRI, which also presented with high Ga-DOTATATE uptake in PET, a finding characteristic for meningioma. A whole-body staging due to a pathological fracture revealed multiple neoplastic lesions throughout the body without detection of a primary site. Subsequent pathological workup of a lung lesion revealed multifocal metastases from follicular thyroid cancer despite thyroidectomy 10 years ago (without pathological finding), and posttreatment scans after radioiodine therapy confirmed the multiple brain lesions to be metastases as well. Our case shows that epidural metastases from endocrine origin might represent a clinical pitfall in Ga-DOTATATE PET.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / pathology*
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Epidural Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Epidural Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Meningeal Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Meningioma / diagnostic imaging*
  • Organometallic Compounds*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography*

Substances

  • Organometallic Compounds
  • gallium Ga 68 dotatate

Supplementary concepts

  • Thyroid cancer, follicular