Tuberculosis Meningitis Mimics Malignancy Like Lesion in Fluorine-18-FDG PET Scan and Gallium Scan

Received 4/5/2006; revised 6/20/2006; accepted 6/23/2006. For correspondence or reprints contact: Ren-Shyan Liu, M.D., Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201 Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan. Tel: (886)2-28757301 ext. 299, Fax: (886)2-28749431, E-mail: [email protected] Tuberculosis of the central nervous system accounts for about 5% of extrapulmonary cases, and meningitis is the most frequent manifestation. The recognition of normal physiological variants and benign false-positive FFDG PET scan findings are crucial for accurate diagnosis. We report an atypical presentation of TB meningitis detected by Ga scan and F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). The FDG-PET scan revealed enhanced uptake of tracer along the posterior portion of the falx cerebri, which is much intense than the gallium uptake in the lesion.