Role of [¹⁸F]Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography—Computed Tomography, Sonography, and Sonographically Guided Fine–Needle Aspiration Biopsy in the Diagnosis of Axillary Lymph Nodes in Patients With Breast Cancer

Abstract

Sonographically guided FNA was found to be an excellent diagnostic tool for preoperative evaluation of the ALN status. To obviate the step of sentinel lymph node biopsy for determining the ALN status, combined evaluation of ALNs by these modalities may be more complementary than the use of a single modality.

Diagnostic Values of 8 Different Imaging Modalities for Preoperative Detection of Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis of Breast Cancer

“…Six studies compared the 18 F-FDG PET or PET/CT and US. 27,35,39,40,42,45 Two studies compared the diagnostic performances of US and elastography. 44,47 Two studies compared the diagnostic performances of mammography and scintimammography.…”

“…[30][31][32][33][43][44][45]47 Other 14 studies were performed in a retrospective manner. [26][27][28][29][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]46 The principal characteristics of the 22 studies are summarized in Table 1.…”

Different Imaging Modalities for the Diagnosis of Axillary Lymph Node Metastases in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Network Meta‐Analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy

“…One thousand two hundred and thirty‐seven duplicate records were removed. After screening 2631 titles and abstracts and 94 full texts, 61 articles 15,17–26,41–90 proved eligible. The detail of the study selection process is illustrated in Fig.…”

“…Many studies have explored the diagnostic value of UE for ALNM in breast cancer, but it is still controversial. 15,16 In addition to US, imaging modalities such as mammography (MMG), 17,18 MRI, [19][20][21][22] positron emission tomography (PET), 23 computed tomography (CT), 24 and PET/CT 25,26 are also increasingly used to assess ALN status in breast cancer patients. However, whether patients would benefit from these imaging modalities more than the commonly used US and which imaging method has the best diagnostic performance remain unclear.…”

Sensitivity, Specificity and the Diagnostic Accuracy of PET/CT for Axillary Staging in Patients With Stage I-III Cancer: A Systematic Review of The Literature

“…Similar issues have been reported for small lesions (12) due to its restricted spatial resolution (3). False-negative (FN) results are associated with a higher T stage (15). An increased likelihood of FNs can be influenced by i) increased age, ii) positive oestrogen receptor status and iii) mixed tissue histology, whereas being HER-2 positive can decrease the likelihood (16).…”