Positron emission tomography with fluorine-18-deoxyglucose in the detection and staging of breast cancer

Abstract

Background. An increasing number of patients with breast cancer is being treated with preoperative chemotherapy. Evaluation of treatment response may be facilitated by positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐D‐glucose (FDG). This noninvasive technique may allow prediction of the chemotherapy outcome in an early phase of the treatment. Methods. Prerequisites for treatment monitoring with PET are good FDG uptake in the tumor, high specificity, and a reliable quantification technique. These factors were studied in 20 patients with primary breast cancer, lymph node metastases, benign breast lesions, a combination of these abnormalities, or no abnormality. Results. In 10 of 11 patients with primary breast cancer, the tumor was visualized. The median tumor‐to‐normal‐tissue‐uptake ratio was 4.9. In all five patients with increased uptake in the lymphmode basin, pathologic proof of metastatic cancer was found. Of the patients with benign or no disease of the breast, slightly increased uptake was seen in one patient with fibrocystic disease. Conclusion. It is concluded that PET with FDG can be used for breast cancer imaging and staging.

99mTc-labelled SM3 in the preoperative evaluation of axillary lymph nodes and primary breast cancer with change detection statistical processing as an aid to tumour detection

“…In the study by Wahl et al (1991), ten out of ten primary tumours were visualized and FDG scanning was reliable in the detection of lymph node and distant metastases. Nieweg et al (1993), found that monitoring treatment with PET FDG in 10 out of 11 patients with primary breast cancer the tumour was visualized. In all five patients with increased uptake in the lymph nodes, pathological proof of metastatic cancer was found.…”

Oncological applications of positron emission tomography with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose

“…Using a whole-body imaging technique, Hoh et al [83] detected 15/17 primary breast carcinomas. Nieweg et al [249,250] identified 10/11 primary lesions. Adler et al [251,252], in a prospective study, recognized 26/27 malignant lesions.…”

“…Available data point to the value of PET in this indication but it has not yet been tested in specific patient groups, such as patients with stage III breast cancer at the time of initial diagnosis, or later on in the disease, eog. in patients with suspected recurrences [246,249,250,259].…”

Scintimammography with technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile: results of a prospective European multicentre trial

“…Use of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET) has also been evaluated for the detection of breast cancer [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. In a larger patient group, Avril et al reported a sensitivity and specificity for the detection of primary breast cancer of 88% and 78%, respectively [18].…”