Thymic uptake of gallium-67 citrate in a healthy 4 year old boy

Abstract

Gallium uptake in a mediastinal mass has been most often seen with lymphoma. A case is reported of thymic uptake in an otherwise healthy 4 1/2 year old boy who had recently had pneumonia. Serial films always showed an unchanging prominent though normal thymus and follow up gallium scans showed disappearance of thymic uptake. This and other similar cases indicate the need to consider a non-neoplastic thymus when gallium accumulation is noted in the anterior mediastinum of a child.