Postsurgical atypical F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography uptake

False positive recognition is crucial for proper interpretation of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) studies. A 48-year-old woman previously diagnosed with stage IIIB non-small-cell lung cancer underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy and intraoperative photodynamic therapy over a month prior to PET/CT imaging, which revealed significant tracer uptake within muscles and soft tissue in several sites contralateral to the location of surgery. The FDG-PET images of this case illustrate the importance of communication between physicians ordering and physicians reading FDG-PET/CT scans as well as atypical FDG-PET findings that could be interpreted as concerning but are, in fact, innocuous. This study also demonstrates the unusual glucose metabolic patterns which may arise after treatment, be it surgical, chemotherapeutic, or radiation.