Suvmax values calculated by tumor tracking method in patients with breast cancer and pathological tumor-stroma ratio correlation

OBJECTIVE: For primary staging, F-18 FDG PET / CT scan was performed to forty-two patient, who have new diagnosed of breast cancer, were included in this study. Some patients who received chemotherapy or radiotherapy or had secondary malignancy were excluded. Pathological sections and archive images were investigated by retrospectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Descriptive parameters, pathological diagnosis, receptor values (ER, PR , Cerb-B2), the presence of axillary lymph node metastasis, Ki-67 values, tumor-stroma ratio and semiquantitative parameters which calculated from PET / CT were obtained from all patients. İmage acquisition was performed from head base to upper femoral region, up to 8-9 bed position by using 16 slice multidetector spiral CT integrated PET/CT which have LSO crystals, TOF technology. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients 55.86±14.11(30-79) were years, mean SUVmax 8.18±5.05 (1.26-20.26) and mean tumor-stroma ratio 0.70±0.42 (0.16-1.93) were calculated in patients. There was intermediate level significant correlation between the tumor-stroma ratio and the SUVmax values (r=0.027, p=0.042). CONCLUSION: There was significant correlation between the tumorstroma ratio and the SUVmax values. Also in many studies, SUVmax of a primary tumor is related to certain pathological characteristics, such as largest diameter, histology, and number of mitosis. This study was thought to be unique and valuable; and to our knowledge it was the first study investigating the correlation between lesion SUVmax value and pathologic tumor-stroma ratio.