George Shih, Wei-Jen Shih, Bonnie Mitchell and Primo P Milan

Department of Radiology, Weill Medical College, Cornell University New York, NY, and Nuclear Medicine Service, Pathology Service and Radiology Service, Lexington VA Medical Center, and Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.

Abstract

F-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography imaging (F-18 FDG PET) detects malignancies depending on the uptake profile of glycolysis of tumors; however, the role of FDG PET is limited in the evaluation of primary renal malignancy because of low FDG uptake by renal cell carcinoma and also because normal urinary excretion of FDG seen in the images. A patient with renal cell carcinoma whose FDG PET imaging study incidentally shows a photon-deficient mass in the upper pole of the right kidney is present here. The diagnosis is also validated by the histopathological findings of tumor necrosis, hemorrhage, and scars.