Relationship between PET/CT findings and clinical and immunohistochemical prognostic factors in breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. In breast cancer, 18F-FDG PET/CT study has been used for tumor detection and staging to obtain long-term prognostic information, restaging and to identify and monitor the response of the primary tumor to chemoradiotherapy. On the other hand factors such as axillary lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, tumor diameter, hormone receptors, CerbB-2 status, Ki-67 proliferation index, grade, tumor markers provide prognostic information about the tumor. Furthermore hormone receptors and CerbB-2 status directly impact therapeutic decision making.The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between FDG uptake assessed by PET/CT in primary breast tumors and histopathologic and immunohistochemical prognostic factors. The study included breast cancer patients referred to the Nuclear Medicine Department of Gazi University for primary staging purposes. PET/CT scans, pathology reports and tumor marker levels of 155 patients were assessed retrospectively. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary lesion was measured in each patient.In conclusion, primary lesion SUVmax correlates with tumor diameter, axillary lymph node metastasis and Ki-67 proliferation index in breast cancer patients.