Clinical Significance of Focal Breast Lesions Incidentally Identified by 18F-FDG PET/CT.
- Author:
Young Seok CHO
1
;
Joon Young CHOI
;
Su Jin LEE
;
Seung Hyup HYUN
;
Ji Young LEE
;
Yong CHOI
;
Yearn Seong CHOE
;
Kyung Han LEE
;
Byung Tae KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. jynm.choi@samsung.com
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
PET/CT;
18F-FDG;
breast;
cancer screening
- MeSH:
Adult;
Breast;
Breast Neoplasms;
Early Detection of Cancer;
Female;
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18;
Humans;
Incidence;
ROC Curve
- From:Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
2008;42(6):456-463
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: We evaluated the incidence and malignant risk of focal breast lesions incidentally detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT. Various PET/CT findings of the breast lesions were also analyzed to improve the differentiation between benign from malignant focal breast lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects were 3,768 consecutive 18F-FDG PET/CT exams performed in adult females without a history of breast cancer. A focal breast lesion was defined as a focal 18F-FDG uptake or a focal nodular lesion on CT image irrespective of 18F-FDG uptake in the breasts. The maximum SUV and CT pattern of focal breast lesions were evaluated, and were compared with final diagnosis. RESULTS: The incidence of focal breast lesions on PET/CT in adult female subjects was 1.4% (58 lesions in 53 subjects). In finally confirmed 53 lesions of 48 subjects, 11 lesions of 8 subjects (20.8%) were proven to be malignant. When the PET/CT patterns suggesting benignancy (maximum attenuation value > 75 HU or < 30 HU; standard deviation of mean attenuation > 20) were added as diagnostic criteria of PET/CT to differentiate benign from malignant breast lesions along with maximum SUV, the area under ROC curve of PET/CT was significantly increased compared with maximum SUV alone (0.680+/-0.093 vs. 0.786+/-0.076, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The malignant risk of focal breast lesions incidentally found on 18F-FDG PET/CT is not low, deserving further diagnostic confirmation. Image interpretation considering both 18F-FDG uptake and PET/CT pattern may be helpful to improve the differentiation from malignant and benign focal breast lesion.
