Positron emission tomography in detection of metastatic leiomyosarcoma in a postoperative patient: a case report

摘要

In leiomyosarcoma (LMS) abnormal vaginal bleeding is the most common reported symptom in patients (56%), followed by pelvic mass (54%), and pain (22%). LMS is often hard to diagnosis on a uterine biopsy because it does not originate in the endometrium and may not invade into the cavity. Non-specific symptoms as well as difficulty in diagnosis being made by biopsy, means that many LMS tumors are often mistaken for fibroids preoperatively. To our knowledge this is the only reported case of FDG-PET being used in the postoperative evaluation of a patient with LMS and a suspicious lung mass. Our case shows there may be a place for PET scans in the post-op surveillance of LMS. This method would be ideally suited, considering the metastatic spread pattern of LMS.