[Utility of positron emission tomography with 18F-FDG in a case of juvenile recurrent respiratory papillomatosis]. / Utilidad de la tomografía por emisión de positrones con 18F-FDG en un caso de papilomatosis pulmonar recurrente juvenil.

ABSTRACT

Juvenile recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (JRRP) is an infectious disease caused by the growth of papillomas in the airway. Up to 4% of these cases degenerate into squamous cell carcinoma. We present the case of a 17-year-old female patient with JRRP in which the utility of (18)F-FDG-PET/CT in the characterization of suspicious papillomatous lesions of malignancy is evaluated. Morphometabolic techniques, CT scan and PET/CT scans were suggestive of malignancy. However, this was not confirmed in the histopathological analysis after its resection. The (18)F-FDG-PET/CT does not seem to be a useful tool for early detection of malignancy in JRRP. However, it does increase the diagnostic accuracy of the biopsy as it identifies the most active lesions and, therefore, those most likely to be malignant.