FDG PET positive lymph nodes are highly predictive of metastasis in breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether or not fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) imaging when positive could obviate the necessity for sentinel lymph node biopsy and for complete axillary node dissection in patients with breast cancer.


METHODS
A total of 80 female patients with a histological diagnosis of breast cancer and clinically negative axillary nodes underwent an FDG PET and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or total axillary dissection for staging of axilla. Both SLNB and axillary dissection were performed in 72 patients, while eight patients had total axillary dissection without SLN biopsy.


RESULTS
Of the 80 patients, 36 had lymph node metastasis on histopathology. SLNB was positive for metastasis in 35 (97%) of 36 patients (29 macrometastasis and seven micrometastasis). In the patient with false negative SLNB, the lymph node was completely replaced by the tumour. The FDG PET was true positive in 16 of 36 patients (sensitivity, 44%). There were two false positive studies with FDG PET, resulting in a specificity of 95%. The positive predictive value and accuracy of FDG PET for the detection of axillary lymph node metastasis were 89% and 72%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that higher grade of tumour, increased size and number of axillary lymph nodes were significantly associated with positive FDG PET results for axillary staging.


CONCLUSIONS
FDG PET cannot replace histological staging using SLNB in patients with breast cancer. However, FDG PET has a high specificity and positive predictive value for staging of the axilla in these patients. The patients with higher grade of tumour, larger size and higher number of axillary lymph nodes may be considered for FDG PET scan for axillary staging.
Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
Rakesh
R
Kumar
Hongming
H
Zhuang
Mitchell
M
Schnall
Emily
E
Conant
Stephanie
S
Damia
Susan
S
Weinstein
Prem
P
Chandra
Brain
B
Czerniecki
Abass
A
Alavi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy