title: The role of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in initial staging of patients with locally advanced breast carcinoma with an emphasis on M staging.
abstract: Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) is a distinct entity in breast carcinoma with high incidence of distant metastases (M). However, there is scarce data in the literature addressing the role of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) in LABC. This study was performed to assess the sensitivity of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in confirming known lymph nodal and M and in identifying new ones in LABC. We performed a retrospective analysis of data of 16 patients with LABC who underwent histopathology, for the diagnosis of LABC and clinical examination, chest X-rays, ultrasound of the abdomen and whole body bone scans. Findings for M obtained by all the above examinations were compared to the (18)F-FDG PET/CT findings that followed. Lymph nodal and distant metastases detected by all other examinations were detected by (18)F-FDG PET/CT in all patients, except subcentimetric metastases in 2 patients in the axilla that were detected in another examination later. Additionally, (18)F-FDG PET/CT identified unknown ipsilateral, supraclavicular, internal mammary metastases and upstaged disease in 3 patients and additional distant metastases were noted in 3/16 patients. In conclusion, our study suggests that more extra axillary lymph nodal and distant metastases can be identified by (18)F-FDG PET/CT as compared to a group of clinical, X-rays, ultrasound and bone scan examinations together.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and General Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, 160 012 Chandigarh, India. brmittal@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Bagwant Rai
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Mittal
authors.forename: Kuruva
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Manohar
authors.forename: Raghava
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kashyap
authors.forename: Anish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: Baljinder
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Gurpreet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18