Last update:
   09-Mar-2021
 

Arch Hellen Med, 38(2), March-April 2021, 207-214

ORIGINAL PAPER

Factors affecting the accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting additional tumor foci in breast cancer

A. Simsek,1 K. Kutluturk,1 A. Comak,2 A. Akatli,3 E. Kekilli,2 B. Unal1
1Department of General Surgery, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, School of Medicine, Inonu University, Malatya
2Department of Nuclear Medicine, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, School of Medicine, Inonu University, Malatya
3Department of Pathology, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, School of Medicine, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of 18F-FDG PET/CT for detecting additional tumor foci in breast cancer.

MATERIAL-METHOD The data were reviewed retrospectively of 232 women who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT examination prior to breast cancer surgery between January 2013 and December 2018.

RESULTS Additional tumor foci were suspected in 95 cases on 18F-FDG PET/ CT, which were confirmed by histopathological analysis in 81 cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detection of additional tumor foci were 77.7%, 79.48%, 66.3%, 87.32%, and 79.23%, respectively. The false negative and false positive rates were 22.22% and 20.51%, respectively. In univariate analysis, only the patient's age was positively associated with accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting additional tumor foci. The accuracy was lower in women aged ≤50 years, with a substantial increase in false positive findings in women in that age group.

CONCLUSIONS 18F-FDG PET/CT alone cannot replace conventional diagnostic procedures for evaluating additional tumor foci in breast cancer, as a substantial increase in false positive findings is recorded with this method in women aged ≤50 years old.

Key words: Breast cancer, Multicentricity, Multifocality, PET/CT, Tumor foci.

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