Identification of Ambiguous Activities in Radionuclide Cisternography Using SPECT/CT: Aspirated and Ingested CSF Rhinorrhea

Excerpt

A 2 year-old little girl underwent Tc-99m diethylenthriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) radionuclide cisternography to evaluate CSF rhinorrhea (Fig. 1). Cisternography clearly showed consecutive tracer activity in the nasal cavity and nasal tip, reflecting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage. However, several unexpected activities appeared on the bilateral mid- and unilateral lower thorax on delayed images, respectively. We performed additional SPECT/CT to delineate the CSF leakage tract and identify the unexpected activities. Through SPECT/CT, we could confirm that the mid-thoracic activity was in the lung parenchyma, while the lower thoracic activity was in the stomach. Thus, we speculated that these unexpected activities were the result of aspirated and ingested CSF rhinorrhea. …