[PET/CT with (18F)FDG in the initial staging of a pelvic kidney neoplasm. A case report]

We report a case of 58-year-old woman referred to our service for an (18)FFDG PET/CT study of initial staging after being diagnosed of a pelvic kidney mass consistent with malignancy. The FDG-PET showed an abnormal mass in the right kidney, a suspicious metastasis versus a second primary tumor in the cortex of the kidney and lymph node infiltration in the paracaval nodes. The histological analysis verification after exeresis of the lesions confirmed the diagnosis of renal metastases. In this article, we present a brief review of the literature published on the role of PET in the characterization and initial staging of kidney and urinary tract tumors. We also stress the clinical importance of carefully evaluating any low attenuation lesion or focal glucose uptake detected in these structures in a PET/CT study with (18)FFDG.