FDG-PET/CT Brain Findings in a Patient With Macrophagic Myofasciitis

Brain Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG PET/CT) was performed in a 44-year-old woman with marked cognitive impairment, diffuse myalgias, sensory, memory and visual disorders, and chronic fatigue, presenting with histopathological features of macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) at deltoid muscle biopsy. Cerebromedullary Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), electromyography, ophthalmic examination, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis were normal. Visual analysis of FDG PET/CT images showed an atypical pattern of hypometabolism, involving symmetrically the occipital cortex, temporal lobes, and limbic system (including in particular amygdalo-hippocampal complexes), and the cerebellum. Posterior cingulate cortex and parietal areas were preserved. This pattern was confirmed by a voxel-based procedure using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) that compared a patient's images to normal reference samples from six healthy subjects with adjustment to age obtained using the same PET/CT camera. These results provide a glucose metabolism substrate for cognitive complaints in patients with long-lasting aluminium hydroxide-induced MMF.