Clinicopathological and Prognostic Relevance of Uptake Level using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Fusion Imaging (18F-FDG PET/CT) in Primary Breast Cancer

Abstract

Using integrated ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography fusion imaging (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT), the clinical significance of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake was evaluated in patients with primary breast cancer. Clinicopathological correlation with the level of maximum standardized uptake values (SUV) 60 min obtained from preoperative ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT were examined in 152 patients with primary breast cancer. The prognostic impact of the level of SUV was explored using simulated prognosis derived from computed program Adjuvant! in 136 (89%) patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). High SUV level was significantly correlated with tumor invasive size (≤2 cm) (P P P P P = 0.001), high score of c-erbB-2 expression (P = 0.006), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.002), and IDC in comparison with invasive lobular carcinoma (P = 0.004). Multivariate analyses showed tumor invasive size, nuclear grade and estrogen receptor negativity were significantly correlated with SUV in primary breast cancer (P P P 18F-FDG would be predictive of poor prognosis in patients with primary breast cancer, and aggressive features of cancer cells in patients with early breast cancer. ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT could be a useful tool to pretherapeutically predict biological characteristics and baseline risk of breast cancer.