Extramedullary hematopoiesis on 18F-FDG PET/CT in a patient with thalassemia and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A case report and literature review.

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) occurs in various bone marrow disorders and is most commonly seen in thalassemia and myelofibrosis. Here, we report a patient with beta-thalassemia and nasopharyngeal carcinoma having intrathoracic EMH. Our patient is a 42-year-old man who complained of chest discomfort for a month. He was confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma (T3N2M0) by histopathology and received chemoradiotherapy 4 months ago. The patient had a long history of beta-thalassemia and a splenectomy due to splenomegaly at 12 years of age. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest showed multiple soft tissue masses in bilateral thoracic cavities. 18F-FDG-PET showed no obvious increase of fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake by the lesions, with an SUVmax value of approximately 2.19. These lesions were considered EMH. The patient had been followed up for more than 1 year, and there were no changes of the lesions in the thoracic cavities.