PET-CT

Immunology

Rash

Lymphoma

Internal medicine

Chickenpox

Medicine

Virus

Nuclear medicine

Disease

Fever of unknown origin

Positron emission tomography

Clinical Nuclear Medicine

We report a case where acute varicella infection, chickenpox, mimics the findings of recurrent Hodgkin disease on F-18 FDG PET/CT. A 28-year-old man with a history of Hodgkin disease in remission had fatigue, pyrexia, and a raised ESR. His F-18 FDG PET/CT, performed to exclude lymphoma recurrence, demonstrated FDG-avid lymphadenopathy and increased FDG uptake in his spleen. A day later he developed the generalized rash of acute varicella infection. This was managed with valacyclovir. Repeat F-18 FDG PET/CT done 1 month later showed no evidence of FDG-avid disease. In this patient the stimulation of an immune response by the acute viral infection mimics recurrent lymphoma.

Acute Varicella Infection Mimics Recurrent Hodgkin's Disease on F-18 FDG PET/CT