Metastatic brachial plexopathy from breast cancer detected by 18F-FDG PET/MRI

Abstract

A 62-year-old woman with history of ductal-invasive arcinoma of the left breast, treated with surgery (left astectomy and left axillary lymphadenectomy) and adjuvant hemotherapy and radiotherapy 17 years before, underwent maging for restaging due to increased serum tumor markers evels (CEA and CA 15-3) and onset of pain on the left rm. Whole-body computed tomography (CT) and other conentional imaging methods were negative. The patient even nderwent a fused 18F-FDG PET/MRI which showed some areas of ncreased 18F-FDG uptake corresponding to an abnormal thickenng of the left brachial plexus at MRI. No other areas of abnormal 8F-FDG uptake were evident in the rest of the body (Fig. 1). Based on these 18F-FDG PET/MRI findings, the patient underwent histology which demonstrated the presence of a metastatic plexopathy from breast cancer and she was addressed to chemotherapy. PET/MRI is of special interest for neuroscience, given that PET and MRI are the neuroimaging methods of choice for many clinical and scientific applications. The first clinical studies conducted have tested the performance of PET/MRI in oncology indications, neurodegenerative disorders and epilepsy, using different PET tracers.1,2 The case which we have briefly presented illustrated the usefulness of fused 18F-FDG PET/MRI in evaluating neoplastic processes involving the peripheral nerves.3 This emerging technique