Comparison between 18F-FDG PET/CT and diffusion-weighted imaging in detection of invasive ductal breast carcinoma

• Published in: Asia oceania journal of nuclear medicine and biology 2024-01, Vol.12 (1), p.11-20
• Main Authors: Ozen, Aynur, Sayin, Tarik, Kandemir, Ozan, Ekmekcioglu, Ozgul, Altınay, Serdar, Bastug, Eylem, Muhammedoglu, Ali, Celik, Atilla, Albayrak, Ramazan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: apparent diffusion coefficient; Biopsy; Breast cancer; Breast carcinoma; Computed tomography; Diffusion coefficient; diffusion magnetic resonance imaging; Estrogen receptors; Invasiveness; Lesions; Lymph nodes; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mammography; Medical imaging; Metastases; Metastasis; Original; Patients; Positron emission tomography; Progesterone; standardized maximal uptake; Surgery; Tomography; Tumors; Ultrasonic imaging
• ISSN: 2322-5718; 2322-5726
• DOI: 10.22038/AOJNMB.2023.70534.1493

Objective(s):Breast carcinoma is the most common type of cancer in females. This study aims to compare fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake pattern and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value for the detection of the primary tumour and axillary metastases of invasive ductal breast carcinoma.Methods:This study included 40 breast carcinoma lesions taken from 39 patients. After staging by positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), breast surgery with axillary lymph node dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed.Results:Primary lesion detection rate for PET/CT and diffusion-weighted MRI was high with 39 of 40 lesions (97.5%). The sensitivity and specificity for the detection of metastatic lymph nodes in axilla were 40.9%, 88.9%, with 18F-FDG PET/CT scans and 40.9%, 83.3%, for dw-MRI, respectively. No significant correlation was detected between ADC and SUVmax or SUVmax ratios. Estrogen receptor (p=0.007) and progesterone receptor (p=0.036) positive patients had lower ADC values. Tumour SUVmax was lower in T1 than T2 tumour size (p=0.027) and progesterone receptor-positive patients (p=0.029). Tumour/background SUVmax was lower in progesterone receptor-positive patients (p=0.004). Tumour/liver SUVmax was higher in grade III patients (p=0.035) and progesterone receptor negative status (p=0.043).Conclusions: This study confirmed the high detection rate of breast carcinoma in both modalities. They have same sensitivity for the detection of axillary lymph node metastases, whereas the PET/CT scan had higher specificity. Furthermore, ADC, SUVmax and SUVmax ratios showed some statistical significance among the patient groups according to different pathological parameters.