HIV-associated lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis causes diffuse sestamibi lung uptake in myocardial perfusion imaging

Technetium-99m (99mTc) sestamibi myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPI) is widely used for the diagnosis and assessment of prognosis in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. During these investigations, inspection of raw projected data for the purpose of quality control may occasionally yield incidental noncardiac findings that suggest the presence of another primary noncardiac disease. We present a 66-year-old HIV patient with a tissue diagnosis of lymphoid interstitial pneumonitis (LIP), who demonstrated a diffuse increase of 99mTc sestamibi in bilateral lung fields both in rest and stress MPI.