[A Case Report : FDG Uptake to Brown Adipose Tissue Activated by Elevated Serum Catecholamine in a Patient with Pheochromocytoma].

A 69-year-old woman was admitted to the previous hospital because of a right adrenal tumor detected by a medical checkup. Although the tumor was diagnosed as non-functional adrenal adenoma, abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed a left renal mass which was suspected to be renal cell carcinoma. Chest CT seeking for metastatic lesions revealed lung cancer of the left lung. First, laparoscopic radical nephrectomy was performed. After the surgery, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) CT performed for staging of the lung cancer demonstrated FDG uptake to the left lung mass, the heart, the right adrenal mass and perirenal regions of the right kidney. The patient showed elevated serum catecholamine level and hypertensive emergency. She was admitted to our hospital with a suspicion of pheochromocytoma of the right adrenal gland and multiple paraganglioma. CT and magnetic resonance imaging showed that the heart and the perirenal regions had no tumors. We considered these lesions brown adipose tissue. Under the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma of the right adrenal gland, laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy was performed. The clinical course after the surgery was uneventful. FDG PET-CT revealed that FDG uptake to brown adipose tissue disappeared 6 months after the partial adrenalectomy.