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CASE REPORT article

Front. Nucl. Med.
Sec. PET and SPECT
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnume.2024.1477467

Case Report: All that Glitters is not Cancer; Perihepatic Hibernoma with fluctuating FDG uptake on PET/CT

Provisionally accepted
Amaila Ramzan Amaila Ramzan 1,2*Amarjot Chander Amarjot Chander 1Thomas Westwood Thomas Westwood 1Mark Elias Mark Elias 1Prakash Manoharan Prakash Manoharan 1
  • 1 The Christie National Health Service Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom
  • 2 Royal Bolton Hospital, Farnworth, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hibernomas are rare brown fat tumors that garnered attention in the literature with the increasing use of [ 18 F] Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography ([ 18 F] FDG PET/CT) for the staging workup and follow-up of solid malignancies. Despite being benign tumors, they exhibit high metabolic activity due to their thermogenic nature, leading to significant radiotracer uptake on functional imaging. This can pose a challenge in differentiating them from the malignant lesions, especially the fatcontaining malignancies such as liposarcoma. Hibernomas are typically found in the thigh, shoulder, back, and neck.Here, we present a unique case of Hibernoma in a patient undergoing PET/CT for melanoma follow-up in an unusual perihepatic location. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this represents the first reported case of a perihepatic hibernoma in the literature. The report also offers a literature review on hibernomas, including the influence of ambient temperature on their metabolism, diagnostic challenges, management strategies, and reports of hibernomas detected on functional imaging with a range of radiotracers. These observations could serve as a valuable clue in identifying hibernomas, potentially aiding in avoiding unnecessary biopsies or resections.

    Keywords: Hibernoma1, Peri hepatic2, FGD PET/CT3, Brown fat4, Ambient (atmospheric) temperature

    Received: 07 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ramzan, Chander, Westwood, Elias and Manoharan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Amaila Ramzan, The Christie National Health Service Foundation Trust, Manchester, M20 4BX, United Kingdom

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