A Rare Case of Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma (ASPS) in the Posterior Cervical Triangle Mimicking a Paraganglioma on 68 Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT.

Mahalik, Aparna; Karna, Roshan; Barwad, Adarsh; Rastogi, Sameer; Shamim, Shamim Ahmed · Clin Nucl Med · 2026

case_report · Level V

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Abstract

DOTANOC avidity is a well-known feature of head and neck paragangliomas, detected using 68 Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT due to their high somatostatin receptor expression. However, other hyper vascular tumours can also show increased tracer uptake, requiring further evaluation. We present a case of DOTANOC avid soft tissue mass in the right posterior cervical triangle on 68 Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT, initially suspected to be a paraganglioma. Histopathology confirmed alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), an uncommon diagnosis in this region, emphasizing the need for histopathologic confirmation in DOTANOC-avid neck masses.

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