The impact of infection and inflammation in oncologic F-FDG PET/CT imaging.

Sites of infection and inflammation can be misleading in oncology PET/CT imaging because these areas commonly show F-FDG activity. Caution in the interpretation must be taken to avoid the misdiagnosis of malignancy. Utilization of both CT findings as well as patient history can help differentiate benign infectious and inflammatory processes from malignancy, although occasionally additional work-up may be required. This article discusses the mechanism of F-FDG uptake in infection and inflammation with illustrative examples.