INTERESTING IMAGE
PET-CT Demonstration of Extensive Muscle Metastases
From Breast Cancer
Yiyan Liu, MD,* Nasrin Ghesani, MD,* Neena Mirani, MD,† and Lionel S. Zuckier, MD*
Abstract: Distant hematogenous spread of metastases to muscle is
a distinctly uncommon manifestation of malignancy. With respect to
breast cancer, occasional reports of solitary muscle metastases have
appeared, although diffuse metastases to muscle is distinctly uncom-
mon. We report an 83-year-old woman with breast cancer previously
diagnosed and treated 27 years earlier who presented with decreased
vision and extraocular muscle palsies. MRI showed nodular thick-
ening of the orbital muscles and biopsy confirmed metastasis from
breast cancer. Subsequent PET-CT demonstrated extensive foci of
increased F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in muscle and
bones throughout the body consistent with metastases. Of interest,
the patient had undergone bilateral hip replacement for degenerative
disease 1 year previously; pathologic review of the previously
resected femoral bone sample revealed no evidence of metastasis at
that time.
Key Words: FDG PET-CT, breast cancer, muscle metastasis
(Clin Nucl Med 2006;31: 266 –268)
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Received for publication June 23, 2005; accepted December 11, 2005.
From the *Section of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology and the
†Department of Pathology, New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ, New-
ark, NJ.
Reprints: Yiyan Liu, MD, Nuclear Medicine, H-141, University Hospital,
150 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ 07101. E-mail: liuyl@umdnj.edu.
Copyright © 2006 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ISSN: 0363-9762/06/3105-0266
Clinical Nuclear Medicine • Volume 31, Number 5, May 2006 266