Pre-operative FDG PET/CT findings related to early tumor recurrence in breast cancer patients

The purpose of this study was to identify any pre-operative FDG PET/CT findings related to early recurrence in the breast cancer patients. One hundred eighteen breast cancer patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT scan for preoperative staging from September 2004 to September 2005 were included. All patients received operation and follow-up examination. From the FDG PET/CT images, (1) the peak standard uptake values (pSUV) of the primary tumor, (2) pSUV of axillary lymph node (LN) were recorded. 7 out of 118 patients had tumor recurrence within 26 months after the surgery. The mean pSUV of primary tumors with early recurrence (6.113.22) was significantly higher than the mean pSUV of the early recurrence negative follow-up group (3.432.43). The mean pSUVs of the axillary LN showed no significant difference between the early recurrence group and recurrence negative (2.122.17 vs 2.411.13). Of 111 patients with no evidence of recurrence, 71 patients showed no perceptible FDG uptake in the axillary LNs. On the other hand, all of the 7 recurrent breast cancer cases show increased FDG uptakes of axillary LN. In the recurrence negative group, no axillary LN demonstrated perceptibly increased FDG uptakes in 64% (71/111 cases); increased FDG uptake was noted in 36% (40/111 cases). In breast cancer patients who had early recurrence, the pSUV of the primary tumor was significantly higher than that of early recurrence negative patients. Though the pSUV of the axillary LN was not a predictor of recurrent breast cancer, all recurrent breast cancer patients had FDG uptake in axillary LN