The Role of FDG-PET/CT in Staging of Breast Cancer

Abstract

reast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer related death in women. Breast cancer strikes women of all ages, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic strata, and geographic locales. Once breast cancer is diagnosed, the tumor stage has to be accurately determined before therapy chosen and the prognosis known. Cancer staging is essential in determining the choice of therapy, as well as a patient’s prognosis and chances for survival. Conventional imaging cannot precisely detect axillary lymph node involvement and/or the presence of distant metastases, which significantly change therapeutic management of these patients. Whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT has proven to be an effective imaging modality for staging of malignant tumors. Combined 18-FDG PET/CT provides the ability to combine functional and morphologic information in a single study, thus becoming a powerful imaging modality for diagnosis & staging of breast cancer. Our data are in agreement with the previous studies has demonstrated that PET/CT is the technique of choice and