18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-Avid mammary mass in a patient with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and Hodgkin's lymphoma: relapse or pitfall?

• Vol 8 • December 2006 838 Diabetic mastopathy is an uncommon benign histopathologic condition manifested by a palpable mass. It typically occurs in premenopausal women with longstanding early-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and microvascular complications. It was first reported in 1984 by Soler and Khardori [1] in a series of 12 patients. Since then, over 200 cases have been described in the literature, mostly in women, diagnosed by mammography, ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging [2-4]. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose imaging with positron emission tomography in combination with computed tomography is a recently introduced technique mainly for the diagnosis, staging and follow-up of malignant conditions. However, it can sometimes be misleading especially when inflammatory benign conditions are involved [5]. We report here a male patient with IDDM and Hodgkins’ lymphoma who developed a FDG-avid mass in his right breast several months after the completion of chemotherapy, posing a diagnostic dilemma.