A rare variant of Caffey's disease – X-rays, bone scan and FDG PET findings

An 18-month-old boy with history of fever of 4 months duration and with swelling of the limbs was referred for a bone scan. There were multiple swellings over his upper and lower limbs, with bowing of the lower limbs. His radiological skeletal survey revealed marked periosteal new bone formation surrounding the diaphysis of long bones. A bone scan done with 99m Tc-MDP showed diffusely increased tracer uptake in all the long bones. A fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) scan done to assess the metabolic activity showed patchy FDG uptake in the long bones, ankle joint and anterior ends of few ribs. His clinical and imaging findings led to the diagnosis of Caffey's disease.