PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Patrick Harnett AU - Shaifali Jain TI - Lesson of the month 1: Spontaneous septic thrombophlebitis presenting with bacteraemia diagnosed by PET-CT scan AID - 10.7861/clinmedicine.17-5-471 DP - 2017 Oct 01 TA - Clinical Medicine PG - 471--472 VI - 17 IP - 5 4099 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/17/5/471.short 4100 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/17/5/471.full SO - Clin Med2017 Oct 01; 17 AB - Spontaneous septic thrombophlebitis is a rare complication of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia. Its true incidence is unknown as septic thrombus is not often considered as a source in the typical ‘screen’ of tests used to find the source of a bacteraemia.Positron emission tomography computerised tomography (PET-CT) is becoming increasingly available to physicians, is highly sensitive and yields specific anatomical information regarding abnormal metabolically active sites in infection, inflammation and neoplasia.In this case, PET-CT enabled the identification of the source of a septic thrombus and enabled focused management. PET-CT should be considered as part of the raft of tests used to identify an obscure source of fever/bacteraemia.