The CAD system can correctly mark most (96.1%) asymptomatic breast cancers detected with digital mammographic screening, with acceptable false-positive marks (1.80 per patient).
Positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET/CT) has been receiving increasing attention during the recent years for making the diagnosis, for determining the staging and for the follow-up of various malignancies. The PET/CT findings of 58 breast cancer patients (age range: 34 79 years old, mean age: 50 years) were retrospectively compared with the PET or CT scans alone. PET/CT was found to be better than PET or CT alone for detecting small tumors or multiple metastases, for accurately localizing lymph node metastasis and for monitoring the response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.maging modalities like computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging rely on detecting anatomic changes for the diagnosis, staging and follow-up of cancer patients. However, positron emission tomography (PET) has the ability to demonstrate abnormal metabolic activity, and 18F-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) PET provides important tumor-related qualitative and quantitative metabolic information that may be critical for the diagnosis and follow-up (1 3). Moreover, the combination of PET and computed tomography (PET/CT) allows the functional PET and anatomical CT images to be acquired under identical conditions and then they are rapidly co-registered. This combined system has advantages over CT alone as functional information is added to morphological data, and this combined system has advantages over PET alone because pathological areas of tracer uptake are better localized and the image acquisition time is reduced (4 7). Moreover, the limited specificity of PET that's due to the increased glucose metabolic activities of benign tumors and inflammatory tissues (such as those of tuberculosis) can be partially overcome by PET/CT (8,9).In this study, we investigated the role of PET/CT for evaluating breast cancer.
PATIENT SELECTIONFifty-eight female patients with known breast cancer (age range: 34 79 years old, mean age: 50 years), and who underwent PET/CT examinations at our facility between April 2003 and June 2005 were enrolled in this study. The PET/CT examinations were performed for the initial tumor staging, for suspected recurrence after breast operation and for follow-up after chemotherapy.
ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to compare the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mammography for the detection and assessment of the size of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).Materials and MethodsThe preoperative contrast-enhanced MRI and mammography were analyzed in respect of the detection and assessment of the size of DCIS in 72 patients (age range: 30-67 years, mean age: 47 years). The MRI and mammographic measurements were compared with the histopathologic size with using the Pearson's correlation coefficients and the Mann-Whitney u test. We evaluated whether the breast density, the tumor nuclear grade, the presence of comedo necrosis and microinvasion influenced the MRI and mammographic size estimates by using the chi-square test.ResultsOf the 72 DCIS lesions, 68 (94%) were detected by MRI and 62 (86%) were detected by mammography. Overall, the Pearson's correlation of the size between MRI and histopathology was 0.786 versus 0.633 between mammography and histopathology (p < 0.001). MRI underestimated the size by more than 1 cm (including false negative examination) in 12 patients (17%), was accurate in 52 patients (72%) and overestimated the size by more than 1 cm in eight patients (11%) whereas mammography underestimated the size in 25 patients (35%), was accurate in 31 patients (43%) and overestimated the size in 16 patients (22%). The MRI, but not the mammography, showed significant correlation for the assessment of the size of tumor in noncomedo DCIS (p < 0.001 vs p = 0.060). The assessment of tumor size by MRI was affected by the nuclear grade (p = 0.008) and the presence of comedo necrosis (p = 0.029), but not by the breast density (p = 0.747) or microinvasion (p = 0.093).ConclusionMRI was more accurate for the detection and assessment of the size of DCIS than mammography.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.