Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jun 14.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Nucl Med. 2020 Jun 28;50(6):518–531. doi: 10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2020.06.001

Table 2.

FDG PET Findings of Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAE)

irAE Author N FDG PET Finding
Colitis Barina et al110 86 Elevated uptake in a portion of, or throughout, the colon. Inflammation may be focal or diffuse. Inflammation can also involve other parts of the GI tract (esophagitis, gastritis, ileitis)
Lang et al60 100
Iravani et al59 5
Wachsmann et al111 1
Gandy et al112 2
Bronstein et al71 1
Hepatitis Raad et al113 1 Elevated diffuse or focal uptake throughout the liver.
Iravani et al59 1
Pneumonitis Raad et al113 1 Elevated lung uptake. Appearance can be focal (organizing pattern), or diffuse (ground glass opacity pattern, hypersensitivity pattern), and my only involve parts of the lung (interstitial pattern)
Garcia-Gomez et al114 1
Razzouk-Cadet et al62 1
Iravani et al59 4
Gandy et al112 1
Sarcoidosis Tirumani et al67 1 Elevated bilateral uptake in mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes. May also include enlargement of existing nodes or appearance of new nodes on CT.
Zhang et al115 1
Iravani et al59 2
Gandy et al112 1
Pancreatitis Alabed et al116 1 Diffuse elevated pancreatic uptake.
Das et al117 1
Wachsmann et al111 1
Iravani et al59 1
Gandy et al112 1
Hypophysitis Wachsmann et al111 1 Elevated focal uptake in the pituitary. Assessment may be difficult due to normal brain uptake.
Iravani et al59 1
Gandy et al112 1
Bronstein et al71 1
Thymic hyperplasia Mencel et al118 2 Elevated diffuse uptake in the thymus.
Fasciitis Bronstein et al71 1 Elevated diffuse uptake in fascia.
Myositis Iravani et al59 1 Elevated diffuse uptake in muscle.
Bronstein et al71 1
Zimmer et al72 1
Arthritis/arthropathy Iravani et al59 1 Elevated uptake in joints.
Gandy et al112 1
Nephritis Qualls et al73 1 Marked increased uptake in the renal cortex.

N are number of patients assessed with 18F-FDG PET in each study. This may be less than the total number of patients analyzed.