Two cases with solitary pulmonary nodule due to non‐tuberculous mycobacterial infection showing intense 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on positron emission tomography scan

Abstract

We report an 81-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman with a solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) due to infection with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). In each case, the nodule showed a high (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake with the maximum standardized uptake values (SUV) of 13.2 and 4.8 on positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, respectively. Both cases required partial lung resection for confirmation of the histological diagnosis. A review of six reported patients with SPN due to NTM infections showed that the SUV of FDG was more than 4.0 in the nodules of all cases. Positive results on FDG-PET should be interpreted cautiously when evaluating SPN, especially in patients having predisposing factors for NTM infections.