title: Is PET/CT Necessary in the Management of Early Breast Cancer?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Advanced imaging methods in early breast cancers are not recommended before surgery. In contrast to the accepted guidelines, some recent studies have shown some benefits with the use of PET/CT in early-stage breast cancer. In this study, we aimed to document the efficacy of PET/CT in detection of distant metastasis as well as other primary cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective study, we reviewed the records of all women patients diagnosed with early breast cancer between March 2012 and December 2014. Besides demographics, we recorded the clinical TNM stage, histology of the tumor, and hormone receptor status. As PET/CT imaging is a routine procedure in our center for early breast cancer, tumor size, lymph node status, distant metastasis, and possible other primary malignancies detected by PET/CT were also recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 419 women included in the study, 24.8% were clinically staged as stage I while the rest were stage II. Distant metastases were detected in 42 patients (10%). The yield of PET/CT in detecting metastasis was significant in stage II patients compared with stage I patients (12.4% vs 2.9%). In subgroup analysis of stage II patients, the performance of PET/CT in detecting metastasis was still evident in stage IIA patients (9.5%). In logistic regression analysis of the significant and near-significant factors (as detected by univariate analysis) effecting PET/CT detected distant metastasis, only nodal status (P = 0.053) was found to be significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest the use of PET/CT in investigating metastasis in axilla positive and clinically stage II early breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Nuclear Medicine, †General Surgery, and ‡Pathology, Baskent University Adana Teaching and Research Center, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gül Nihal
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Nursal
authors.forename: Tarik Zafer
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Nursal
authors.forename: Huseyin Ozgur
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Aytac
authors.forename: Bermal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hasbay
authors.forename: Neşe
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Torun
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reyhan
authors.forename: Ali Fuat
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Yapar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18