Radiology 2002 Jul;224(1):153-6
Recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy in patients with lung cancer: detection with
PET-CT image fusion -- report of six cases.
Kamel EM, Goerres GW, Burger C, von Schulthess GK, Steinert HC.
Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) was performed
for preoperative staging of lung cancer. In six of 184 patients, there was an
intense FDG accumulation in the lower anterior neck. Fusion of PET and computed
tomographic images revealed that the focal FDG uptake was localized in the
internal laryngeal muscles. This finding was a result of compensatory laryngeal
muscle activation caused by contralateral recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy due to
direct nerve invasion by lung cancer of the left mediastinum or lung apices. The
knowledge of this pitfall is important to avoid false-positive PET results.
