BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1628752
Limited Utility of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in the Evaluation of Sporadic Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: A Retrospective Analysis of Ten Cases
Provisionally accepted
- 1Departments of Nuclear Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Cancer Research, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Department of Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
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Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of 18 F-FDG PET/CT as an imaging biomarker for diagnosing lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). Methods: We enrolled 10 female patients with pathologically confirmed LAM. Clinical characteristics, pulmonary function test results, and PET/CT imaging findings were analyzed. 18 F-FDG uptake was quantified using the region of interest method, while the extent of pulmonary involvement was assessed semi-quantitatively using the pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (PLAM) score based on CT imaging. Correlations between pulmonary function, PLAM score, drug therapy, and functional outcomes (e.g., walking distance and stair-climbing ability) were examined. Results: Among the 10 patients, 7 (70%) received sirolimus, 1 (10%) was treated with tamoxifen, and the remaining 2 received no drug therapy. Immunohistochemical staining for HMB-45 was positive in all tested cases. Five of six patients (83%) had a history of pneumothorax and had undergone pleurodesis. Notably, only one patient exhibited 18 F-FDG uptake, who also had a history of pleurodesis. Extrapulmonary manifestations, including liver, kidney, ovarian, and lymphatic lesions, were observed in some cases. Conclusion: While 18 F-FDG PET/CT may contribute to the diagnosis, assessment, and follow-up of LAM, its routine use is not recommended due to the typically low 18 F-FDG avidity of LAM lesions and the high cost of PET/CT imaging.
Keywords: 18 F-FDG, PET/CT, lymphangioleiomyomatosis;, utility, Evaluation
Received: 16 May 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zeng, Liang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rusen Zhang, Departments of Nuclear Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Cancer Research, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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