Fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography for evaluation of indeterminate lung nodules: assigning a probability of malignancy may be preferable to binary readings.

Objective: To assess the diagnostic value of fluorine-18 fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) using standard uptake values (SUV) in the differential diagnoses of indeterminate pulmonary nodules. Specifically, we assessed the probability of malignancy for various SUV ranges, and compared the diagnostic efficacy of SUV with and without correction for partial volume effects on the basis of lesion size.

Methods: The FDG-PET scans performed on 158 patients with biopsy-proven pulmonary lesions seen on computed tomography (CT) scan were retrospectively reviewed.

Granulomatous Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in three patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is a frequent manifestation of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). It usually presents radiologically as diffuse bilateral infiltrates and histologically as a foamy, eosinophilic intra-alveolar exudate containing the organisms' cysts. We recently studied two rare cases of P carinii pneumonia presenting as pulmonary nodules on chest x-ray films in two patients with AIDS.

Inflammatory pseudotumor of the thymus.

A 44-year-old man with inflammatory pseudotumor of the thymus is reported. The patient was seen with fever, myalgia, and dyspnea and was found to have an anterior mediastinal mass and bilateral pleural effusions. The resected lesion consisted of a well-circumscribed mass of chronic inflammatory and fibrous tissue that virtually replaced the thymus.