Misleading 68GALLIUM‐dotatate PET scan in a patient with a history of a phaeochromocytoma: Unsuspected uptake in papillary thyroid carcinoma metastases

Abstract

Scanning for somatostatin receptors using 68Ga‐dotatate positron emission tomography with co‐registration with computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging is now in widespread use for the identification of neuroendocrine tumours, phaeochromocytomas, and paragangliomas and their metastases. We present a case where a patient with a phaeochromocytoma showed uptake in her neck considered diagnostic of a head‐and‐neck paraganglioma, which was subsequently confirmed to be a metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma. We alert clinicians to such falsely‐identified tumours using this extensively used imaging technique.