Rim ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake of hepatic cavernous hemangioma on positron emission tomography/computed...

Peripheral FDG accumulation in a hepatic hemangioma presenting in a patient with prolonged fever is rare. Therefore, clinicians should pay close attention to patients with hepatic mass.

A 54-year-old woman with a 4-wk history of daily fevers was admitted to our hospital. A whole body ¹⁸F-Fluordesoxyglucose (PET-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) was performed to elucidate the source of the fever. However, whole body ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT raised the suspicion of a malignant lesion because of peripheral FDG accumulation (SUVmax 3.5 g/mL) higher than that of the normal liver parenchyma (SUVmax 1.6 g/mL) surrounding a hypoactive area, and no other abnormalities were showed. Subsequently, the patient underwent liver mass resection. Histopathology showed a hepatic cavernous hemangioma with fatty infiltration around the lesion. The fever disappeared four days after surgery and the patient did not present any complications during follow-up.

Fatty infiltration in the peripheral parts of hepatic cavernous hemangioma may lead to subacute inflammation which further activate the Kupffer cells. This may cause prolonged fever and peripheral rim FDG accumulation on PET/CT.