[Role of PET/CT in tuberculosis--can we distinguish tuberculoma from lung cancer by PET/CT examination].

Differentiating lung cancers from tuberculoma is very important, because in Japan, lung granulomas arise mostly from tuberculosis. However, diagnosis of tuberculoma is very difficult, because of its nonspecific radiographic appearances and the difficulty of bacteriological confirmation of the disease. 18F-FDG PET have contributed significantly to the diagnosis of lung cancer, but FDG is not a cancer-specific agent, so tuberculoma also have been reported to accumulate. Recently, 18F-FDG PET is useful as tools in evaluation of disease activity or for monitoring the response to chemotherapy in patients with tuberculoma. It may be possible to distinguish patients with tuberculoma from those with lung cancer by serial 18F-FDG PET examination (ie, before and after specific treatment of antituberculous treatment for several months).