Diagnosis of benign solitary fibrous tumors by positron emission tomography.

An 80-year-old male presented with dyspnea so severe that he could not perform the activities of daily living. Chest radiography and computed tomography of the chest demonstrated a 30-cm left chest mass extending inferiorly to displace the left kidney and spleen. Three incisional biopsies yielded inconclusive results. Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorodeoxyglucose F 18 (FDG) ruled out malignancy, so a curative excisional biopsy was performed. We conclude that FDG PET is a crucial component of the initial evaluation of patients with solitary pulmonary masses. FDG PET has high sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value in the diagnostic clarification of radiologically indeterminate pulmonary lesions.