Pulmonary Findings of [18F]FDG PET/CT Images on Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several case studies demonstrated that many asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 underwent fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ([F-18]FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) examination for various indications. However, there is a lack of literature to characterize the pattern of [F-18]FDG PET/CT imaging on asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. Therefore, a systematic review to analyze the pulmonary findings of [F-18]FDG PET/CT on asymptomatic COVID-19 patients was conducted. This systematic review was performed under the guidelines of PRISMA. PubMed, Medline, and Web of Science were used to search for articles for this review. Articles with the key words: asymptomatic, COVID-19, [F-18]FDG PET/CT, and nuclear medicine were searched for from 1 January 2020 to 20 May 2021. Thirty asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 were included in the eighteen articles. These patients had a mean age of 62.25 +/- 14.85 years (male: 67.71 +/- 12.00; female: 56.79 +/- 15.81). [F-18]FDG-avid lung lesions were found in 93.33% (28/30) of total patients. The major lesion was [F-18]FDG-avid multiple ground-glass opacities (GGOs) in the peripheral or subpleural region in bilateral lungs, followed by the consolidation. The intensity of [F-18]FDG uptake in multiple GGOs was 5.605 +/- 2.914 (range from 2 to 12) for maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax). [F-18]FDG-avid thoracic lymph nodes (LN) were observed in 40% (12/40) of the patients. They mostly appeared in both mediastinal and hilar regions with an SUVmax of 5.8 +/- 2.93 (range from 2.5 to 9.6). The [F-18]FDG uptake was observed in multiple GGOs, as well as in the mediastinal and hilar LNs. These are common patterns in PET/CT of asymptomatic patients with COVID-19.

Automated summary

A systematic review analyzed the pulmonary findings of [F-18]FDG PET/CT on asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, revealing that multiple ground-glass opacities and [F-18]FDG-avid thoracic lymph nodes were common patterns in PET/CT of asymptomatic patients with COVID-19. Postoperative COVID-19 patients should also pay attention to positive tuberculous chain lymph node metastasis.