The clinical significance of standardized uptake value in breast cancer measured using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical and biological significance of F-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) uptake levels in breast cancer patients.


METHODS
F-FDG PET/computed tomography was performed in 206 women with breast cancer, and the standardized uptake value (SUV) in breast cancer was analyzed to test associations with prognostic parameters.


RESULTS
PET/computed tomography sensitivity for primary tumor detection was 90.4% (206/228) and sensitivity and specificity for metastatic axillary lymph node were 72.6% (45/62) and 84.7% (122/144), respectively. A high SUV was significantly associated with large tumor size (>2 cm, P<0.001), positive axillary lymph node metastasis (P<0.001), distant metastasis (P=0.016), higher tumor node metastasis stage (P<0.001), higher histologic grade (P<0.001), higher nuclear grade (P<0.001), estrogen receptor negativity (P<0.001), progesterone receptor negativity (P<0.001), triple negativity (P=0.006), B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 negativity (P=0.031), cytokeratin 5/6 positivity (P=0.001), epidermal growth factor receptor positivity (P=0.005), and Ki67 positivity (P=0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that tumor size (>2 cm, P=0.001), positive axillary lymph node metastasis (P=0.028), and estrogen receptor negativity (P<0.001) were significantly associated with the SUV.


CONCLUSIONS
High levels of F-FDG uptake in primary breast cancer were correlated with poor prognostic factors and aggressive biologic markers such as triple negativity, markers of basal-type cancer, and Ki67. The SUV might be predictive of biologic markers and assist therapeutic decision making.
Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Bucheon St Mary Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Young-Hwa
YH
Kim
Jin-A
JA
Lee
Jong-Min
JM
Baek
Gi-Young
GY
Sung
Do-Sang
DS
Lee
Jong-Man
JM
Won
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001692:Biological Transport; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18