Investigating the role of PET/CT scan in breast cancer management

Introduction: With regards to breast cancer prevalence which accounts for 23% of cancer diagnosed and 14% of cancer deaths, the proper preoperative staging is vital in the treatment of breast cancer. As evaluation of glucose metabolism with 18F- fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has an evolving role in breast cancer management, the aim of this study was to review the advantages and limitations of PET/CT scan with FDG18 in breast cancer management.Methods: We performed a systematic literature search of Pub Med, Google Scholar, Science Direct for all research articles using the different combinations of terms Breast cancer , PET/ CT Scan and Diagnosis . 86 articles were found and 17 articles were completely reviewed by removing duplicates based on the title and reading abstracts.Results: The integrated PET/CT systems include CT and PET scanners can prepare functional information added to morphological data. These systems have better accuracy in localizing pathological areas of tracer uptake and the shorter image acquisition time. The sensitivity of PET/CT ranged from 0.44 to 0.98 and specificity 0.77 to 1.00.among all the included studies. Moreover, the limited specificity of PET that’s due to the increased glucose metabolic activities of benign tumors and inflammatory tissues such as those of tuberculosis can be partially overcome by PET/CT.Conclusion: The FDG-PET/CT scan plays an important role in restaging breast cancer patients with rising tumor markers and negative or equivocal findings in conventional imaging techniques, with a consequent significant clinical impact on further management in these patients.

کلیدواژه ها:

FDG-PET/CT ، breast cancer ، sensitivity ، specificity