Potential Pitfall of Fluciclovine PET/CT in Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer With Adrenal Metastasis

An 83-year-old man with castrate-resistant prostate cancer underwent an 18 F-fluciclovine PET/CT scan, which was negative for local disease recurrence or locoregional lymphadenopathy, but there were multiple fluciclovine-avid bone metastases. In addition, mildly avid bilateral adrenal nodules were thought to be benign. However, on follow-up PET/CT 10 months later, while on additional therapy with enzalutamide, the bilateral nodules became mass lesions with interval decreased fluciclovine avidity. Adrenal metastases were suspected given their rapid growth, with subsequent CT-guided biopsy revealing metastatic prostate cancer without tumor necrosis. This false-negative case highlights the diagnostic challenge of fluciclovine PET in characterizing adrenal lesions.