Spinal cord metastases from lung cancer: detection with F-18 FDG PET/CT

Preoperative F-18 FDG PET/CT study in this 57-year-old woman showed an FDG avid lesion in the left upper lung without evidence of lymphadenopathy or distant metastasis. She underwent a left upper lobectomy in June 2005 revealing moderately poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (pT3N0M0) and subsequent chemotherapy completed December 2005. Nine months later, a left parietal lobe metastatic lesion was surgically resected. A true whole body FDG PET/CT study in November 2006 for restaging demonstrated new FDG avid spinal cord foci, which were highly suspicious for spinal cord metastases; these lesions were confirmed by MRI. Clinically, the patient recently developed back pain without evidence of neurologic deficits.