Active Herpes Zoster Mimicking Worsening of Axillary Lymph Node Metastases of Breast Cancer after Chemotherapy on 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron-Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography

Tomoyuki Fujioka; Kota Yokoyama; Mio Mori; Yuka Yashima; Emi Yamaga; Kazunori Kubota; Jun Oyama; Goshi Oda; Tsuyoshi Nakagawa; Ukihide Tateishi

doi:10.3390/diagnostics11061085

Active Herpes Zoster Mimicking Worsening of Axillary Lymph Node Metastases of Breast Cancer after Chemotherapy on 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron-Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography

Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Jun 14;11(6):1085. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11061085.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan.
² Department of Radiology, Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Saitama 343-8555, Japan.
³ Department of Surgery, Breast Surgery, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan.

Abstract

A woman in her 60s presented to our hospital with a left breast mass that was diagnosed as breast cancer. 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) revealed intense, hot uptake in the cancerous mass and left axillary lymph node metastasis. After chemotherapy, another PET/CT scan was performed. Although the mass and left axillary lymph nodes shrank and FDG uptake decreased, enlarged lymph nodes with high FDG uptake appeared in the right axilla. The patient had a painful vesicular eruption on the front to the back of the right upper hemithorax, which was diagnosed as active herpes zoster. Active herpes zoster mimics a worsening axillary lymph node metastasis on the PET/CT scan.

Keywords: PET/CT; axillary lymph node metastases; breast cancer; herpes zoster; lymphadenopathy.