F-18 FDG PET/CT as a One-Stop Shop Imaging Modality for Assessment of Neurologic and Pulmonary Manifestations of COVID-19

Yousefi-Koma, Abbas; Aghahosseini, Farahnaz; Yousefi-Koma, Hannaneh; Roohizadeh, Alireza; Panahmoghaddam, Mojgan

F-18 FDG PET/CT as a One-Stop Shop Imaging Modality for Assessment of Neurologic and Pulmonary Manifestations of COVID-19

Document Type : Case Report

Authors

Abbas Yousefi-Koma ¹

Farahnaz Aghahosseini ¹

Hannaneh Yousefi-Koma ²

Alireza Roohizadeh ¹

Mojgan Panahmoghaddam ¹

¹ Chronic Respiratory Disease Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

² School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Neurologic manifestations are now being increasingly encountered in patients who are admitted for respiratory symptoms of COVID-19. A 67-year-old male with a recent history of Wernicke’s aphasia was referred to the nuclear medicine department for risk stratification of malignancy in pulmonary nodule by 18F-FDG PET-CT scan. PET-CT revealed decreased metabolic activity in the left temporoparietal lobe of the brain consistent with recent CVA and excluded malignancy in the pulmonary nodule with low-grade metabolic activity. Incidentally noted, new bilateral pulmonary hypermetabolic ground glass opacities rising suspicious for covid-19 infection which was confirmed by PCR of nasopharyngeal mucosa sample. These findings highlight the value of 18F-FDG PET-CT in the assessment of COVID-19 infection especially in non-pulmonary presentations like early neurologic manifestation.

Keywords

COVID-19

Wernicke’s aphasia

PET-CT scan

PCR