Multiple (18)F-FDG, PET-CT for postoperative monitoring of breast cancer patients.
BACKGROUND
Positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) may be useful in the post-treatment follow-up of breast cancer patients.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the usefulness of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT (PET-CT) for postoperative monitoring of breast cancer patients.


METHODS
One hundred twenty-nine PET-CT studies performed on 55 female postoperative breast cancer patients (median age 56 years, range 36-86 years) were analyzed. The median interval between the PET-CT studies was 6 months (range 1-15 months). In order to determine the usefulness of serial PET-CT examinations in the postoperative follow-up of breast cancer patients, the PET-CT findings were compared with the physical findings, findings obtained by other imaging modalities, and the (18)F-FDG-PET (PET) findings.


RESULTS
The PET findings were negative in 4 metastatic bone lesions with a positive bone scan. The PET findings were also negative in 6 of 9 osteogenic bone metastases and one of 64 osteolytic bone lesions. There were 5 cases with false-positive of PET, which were determined to be areas of soft-tissue hyperactivity. All false-positive/-negative findings were corrected by the addition of CT.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study lend support to the clinical role of PET-CT in the postoperative follow-up/monitoring of breast cancer patients.
Kurata
A
A
Department of Radiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. krtmrad@tmd.ac.jp
Murata
Y
Y
Kubota
K
K
Osanai
T
T
Shibuya
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18