Full-dose, intravenous contrast-enhanced FDG PET/CT was more accurate than conventional imaging for initial breast cancer staging due to the higher detection rate of metastases and synchronous tumours, although the study had several limitations including a retrospective design, a possible selection bias and a relevant false-positive rate for the detection of axillary lymph node metastases. FDG PET/CT resulted in a change of treatment in a substantial proportion of patients.
Though more accurate compared to ultrasound for evaluating the axillary lymph node status FDG-PET/CT is only as sensitive as ultrasound when it comes to the detection of axillary lymph node metastases. Due to the low sensitivity FDG-PET/CT cannot act as a substitute for Sentinel lymph node biopsy. FDG-PET/CT is able to detect previously unknown locoregional extra-axillary lymph node metastases.
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