Letter to the Editor
The significance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
- † Equal contributors
1 Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Hospital, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, China
2 Department of Hematology, Huai’an First People’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Huai’an, China
3 Department of PET/CT Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Hospital, Nanjing, China
Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2012, 5:40 doi:10.1186/1756-8722-5-40
Published: 23 July 2012Abstract
This study was aimed to investigate the significance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH) patients. A total of 18 patients received 18F-FDG PET/CT scan at initial diagnosis. All patients (18/18) had at least 3 organs involved, with increased FDG metabolism in different degrees. Fifteen cases (15/18) had definite underlying diseases, including infections (IAHLH), rheumatosis (RAHLH), or malignancy (MAHLH). The SUVmax of patients in MAHLH group was significantly higher than patients in IAHLH group or RAHLH group (P = 0.015, P = 0.045). Furthermore, the SUVmax of patients in IAHLH group was significantly higher than patients of RAHLH group (P = 0.043). Therefore, we concluded that 18F-FDG PET/CT may especially play important role in differential diagnosis of sHLH.
