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. 2022 Jun 29;17(6):e0270695. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270695

Fig 1. Three PET/CT scans performed in a female patient with a large hepatic manifestation of alveolar echinococcosis.

Fig 1

The patient (patient 04 in Table 2) was 24 years old in 2005 (maximum intensity reconstructions of PET (A) and fused PET/CT images (D)), 32 years old in 2012 (B and E), and 40 years old in 2020 (C and F). She was treated with albendazol since 1997 and therapy was ongoing at the last clinical follow-up in 2021. In 2005, PET/CT showed moderate metabolic activity (A and D), EgHF AU were 58. In 2012, the patient presented with fever and was diagnosed with cholangitis and subsequently treated with antibiotics—PET/CT showed intense metabolic activity in the periphery of the echinococcosis manifestation (B and E), EgHF AU were lower than in 2005 (i.e., 46). In 2020 (C and F), PET/CT again showed moderate metabolic activity to a lesser extent, EgHF AU were 13. The large discrepancy in trends in this case, may indicate, that metabolic activity and EgHF antibody levels may have to be evaluated independently, when treating patients with alveolar echinococcosis.