FDG PET/CT Findings in Benign Bone Lesions

1270 Objectives FDG PET/CT is the standard of care in the management of cancer. Metabolically active lesions in the bone upstage malignancies and alter subsequent management. Identifying benign bone lesions correctly, with or without FDG uptake, will increase the accuracy of staging. The purpose of this educational exhibit is to familiarize nuclear medicine and radiology physicians with the FDG PET/CT appearance of common benign osseous lesions. Characteristic findings associated with routinely encountered benign lesions are displayed with particular attention to anatomic location, patient population, CT characteristics, and degree of FDG avidity. In certain cases, long term follow up imaging, histopathological and MRI findings are presented to augment educational value. Methods The FDG PET/CT departmental teaching files from a tertiary care university hospital, a major metropolitan county hospital, and a large regional Children9s hospital were queried for high quality instructive examples of a representative sample of commonly encountered benign bone lesions. Results The examples included in this exhibit are as follows: enchondroma, fibrous dysplasia, hemangioma, osseous sarcoid, normal anatomy (femoral fovea, physeal plates in children, herniation pit), osteoid osteoma, osteomyelitis, Paget’s disease, Schmorl’s node, and multiple stages of fracture. A detailed description of clinical scenario, common imaging findings (Radiographic, CT, MRI), and a focused differential diagnosis will be presented for each case shown. Conclusions Given the incidence of benign bone lesions, it is important for PET/CT readers to be familiar with characteristic imaging features of common benign bone lesions in order to accurately stage malignancies. Facility with the entities displayed herein may help interpreting physicians (particularly trainees) differentiate a benign lesion from a focus of osseous metastatic disease, which is of the utmost importance in the oncology patient population commonly imaged with FDG PET/CT. RESEARCH SUPPORT: None $$graphic_87F3DDE8-464A-408F-A3B5-FE1918B2544D$$