The Role of FDG-PET/CT in Staging of Breast Cancer

Background Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer related death in women. Breast cancer strikes women of all ages, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic strata, and geographic locales. Once breast cancer is diagnosed, the tumor stage has to be accurately determined before therapy chosen and the prognosis known. Aim of the Work to highlight the role of PET-CT imaging in staging of patients with breast cancer. Patients and Methods This study was carried out on a total of 51 female patients biopsy-proved to have cancer breast coming to perform PET/CT scans for staging, pre-operative or pre-therapeutic assessment with ages ranging from 27 to 78 years, in specialized private center in Cairo using combined PET-CT machine (Phillips Ingenuity TF PET/CT 128 Slice) from October 2017 to June 2019. Results Combined PET/CT staged 3 patients as stage IA, 10 patients as stage IIA, 6 patients as stage IIB, 2 patients as stage IIIA, 3 patients as stage IIIB, 2 patients as stage IIIC and 25 patients as stage IV. Out of 51 patients, combined PET/CT upgraded the staging of 13 patients compared to initial CT staging. Conclusion PET/CT is the technique of choice and indispensable tool for evaluation of the patients with breast cancer.