A very rare case of nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma incidentally disclosed at 18F-FDG PET/CT

This is a case of a 48-year-old man treated with surgery and (131)I for papillary thyroid carcinoma: a follow-up (18)F-FDG PET/CT incidentally evidenced pituitary uptake, also seen in (111)In-octreoscan as increased uptake in the sellar area. MRI confirmed a pituitary mass. The patient did not show any signs or symptoms related to this lesion; 1 year later, both PET/CT and MRI findings remained unchanged. Surgery confirmed nonfunctioning benign pituitary adenoma. This single case observed in 12,873 consecutive patients scanned in our center confirms the possibility that nonfunctioning benign pituitary adenomas may be FDG-avid: uptake mechanisms remain unknown, and targeted studies are needed.