Silastic injection for vocal fold medialization resulting in a false-positive finding on F18 FDG-PET/CT

A false-positive uptake of F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) on positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) can result in confusion and misinterpretation of scans. Such uptakes have been previously described after injection of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) into the vocal folds. Similarly, vocal fold injection of silicone elastomer (Silastic) can result not only in a false-positive FDG uptake on PET/CT, but also in chronic inflammation. We report a case of increased FDG uptake in a vocal fold after Silastic injection that was misinterpreted as a malignancy in a 70-year-old woman who had metastatic carcinoma of the stomach.