¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in detection of gynecomastia in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective: We retrospectively investigate the prevalence of gynecomastia as false-positive 2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Among the 127 male HCC patients who underwent ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scan, the ¹⁸FDG uptakes at the bilateral breasts in 9 patients with gynecomastia were recorded as standard uptake value (SUVmax) and the visual interpretation in both early and delayed images. Results: The mean early SUVmax was 1.58/1.57 (right/left breast) in nine gynecomastia patients. The three patients with early visual score of 3 had higher early SUVmaxs. Conclusion: Gynecomastia is a possible cause of false-positive uptake on ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT images.