Seminars in nuclear medicine
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The use of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET) in the field of oncology is rapidly evolving; however, (18)F-FDG is not tumor specific. Aside from physiological uptake (18)F-FDG also may accumulate in benign processes. Knowledge of these (18)F-FDG-avid nonmalignant lesions is essential for accurate PET interpretation in oncologic patients to avoid a false-positive interpretation. ⋯ Correlation with CT on fused PET/CT data may obviate the need for further evaluation or biopsy in more than one-third of scintigraphic equivocal lesions. Familiarity with (18)F-FDG-avid nonmalignant lesions also may extend the use of (18)F-FDG-PET imaging beyond the field of oncology. We have tabulated our experience with benign entities associated with increased (18)F-FDG uptake on whole-body PET/CT from 12,000 whole-body (18)F-FDG-PET/CT studies performed during a 4-year period.