Characteristics of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with Kimura's disease from China.

Abstract

'Kimura's disease (KD) is a rare chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology and is difficult to diagnose due to poor clinical presentation and imaging features. Few studies on characteristics of 18F-FDG PET/CT of KD have been reported. This study aimed to observe the reliable characteristics and usefulness of 18F-FDG PET/CT for the evaluation of consecutive patients with KD. The clinical data and 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging findings of 8 patients with pathologically confirmed KD were reviewed retrospectively.18F-FDG PET/CT images were evaluated visually and semiquantitatively by measuring the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax). The correlations between clinical data and 18F-FDG PET/CT features were analyzed by simple linear regression. This study included 7 males and one female ranging in age from 17 to 79years. The longest diameter of lesions ranged from 0.8cm to 4.8cm, and regional or generalized lymphadenopathy was found in all 8 patients with eosinophilia, while subcutaneous masses and salivary gland involvement concurrently were found in 4 patients. 18F-FDG PET/CT revealed that these involved lesions had high 18F-FDG uptake with SUVmax > 2.5 (2.6 to 6.3). Moreover, the margin of the lesions was well defined in 6 cases and ill defined in 2 cases, and homogeneous density and 18F-FDG uptake were both found in all these lesions. There was negative correlation between eosinophils and SUVmax (R2 = 0.538). Kimura's disease should be considered when 18F-FDG PET/CT is characterized by homogeneous lesions of regional or generalized lymphadenopathy, accompanied with subcutaneous masses and salivary gland involvement concurrently, especially in patients with eosinophilia.