Multi-site abdominal tuberculosis mimics malignancy on 18F-FDG PET/CT: report of three cases.

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) imaging, an established procedure for evaluation of malignancy, shows an increased 18F-FDG uptake in inflammatory conditions. We present three patients with abdominal pain and weight loss. Conventional imaging studies indicated that abdominal neoplasm and 18F-FDG PET/CT for assessment of malignancy showed multiple lesions with intense 18F-FDG uptake in abdomen of the three cases. However, the three patients were finally diagnosed with multi-site abdominal tuberculosis (TB). Of them, two were diagnosed with TB by pathology, one was diagnosed with TB clinically. They recovered after anti-TB therapy. Few reports on accumulation of 18F-FDG in abdominal TB are available in the literature. A high index of suspicion is necessary to achieve an early diagnosis and a better outcome of the disease.