title: Use and Yield of Baseline Imaging and Laboratory Testing in Stage II Breast Cancer.
abstract: Despite guideline recommendations, baseline laboratory testing and advanced imaging are widely ordered in clinical practice to stage asymptomatic patients with clinical stage II breast cancer (BC).
  
  
  
  A retrospective study at two academic centers in Boston, Massachusetts, between 2006 and 2007 explored the use, results, and implications of laboratory tests, tumor markers, and imaging in patients with clinical stage II BC.
  
  
  
  Among 411 patients, 233 (57%) had liver function testing, 134 (33%) had tumor marker tests, and 237 (58%) had computed tomography (CT) as part of their initial diagnostic workup. Median age was 52 (range, 23-90 years). On multivariable analysis, young age, more advanced stage, and tumor subtype (human epidermal growth receptor-positive [HER2+] and triple-negative breast cancer [TNBC]) were significantly associated with baseline CT. The rate of detection of true metastatic disease with use of baseline staging imaging was 2.1% (95% confidence interval, 0.7%-5%). It was 2.2% (3 of 135) for estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor-positive disease, 1.9% (1 of 54) for HER2+ disease, and 2.1% (1 of 48) for TNBC. At 5 years of follow-up, 46 of 406 patients were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Thirty-four of 46 (73.9%) who developed recurrent disease had imaging at their initial diagnosis, and of these, five had abnormalities on their initial imaging that was correlated with where they developed metastatic disease.
  
  
  
  In this cohort of women with stage II BC, staging imaging at diagnosis had a low yield in detecting distant metastases (2.1%). The detection rate was not higher with HER2+ disease or TNBC, despite the trend that patients with these subtypes were more likely to undergo imaging.
  
  
  
  Despite guideline recommendations, asymptomatic patients with stage II breast cancer (BC) often undergo staging imaging with computed tomography, bone scanning, or positron emission tomography. Physicians have often reported that they order imaging despite recommendations because they believe that younger patients or patients with more aggressive BC phenotypes, such as human epidermal receptor 2-positive BC or triple-negative BC, benefit from staging imaging. In this cohort of women younger than those in prior studies, the yield of detecting distant metastatic disease in patients with clinical stage II BC was very low and the detection rate was not higher in the presence of HER2-positive or triple-negative BC.
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Brittany_bychkovsky@dfci.harvard.edu.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Brittany L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Bychkovsky
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Jazmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spring
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faig
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Ibiayi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dagogo-Jack
authors.affiliation: New England Cancer Specialists, Scarborough, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Battelli
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Mary Jane
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Houlihan
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tsai-Chu
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Come
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy U
authors.initials: NU
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: Breast Cancer; Imaging utilization; Metastases; Radiologic studies; Staging; Tumor markers