Pretreatment PET/CT Imaging of Lymph Nodes Predicts Recurrence in Breast Cancer Patients, Kyungpook National University Hospital Study

Disease-free survival for invasive ductal breast cancer (IDC) patients may be easier to predict with the help of F-18-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scans, according to research published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. New data show that high maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of F-18-FDG in the lymph nodes prior to treatment could be an independent indicator of disease recurrence. "Many studies have revealed that breast cancer patients with axillary lymph node metastasis have a significantly poorer prognosis than those without nodal metastases," noted Sang-Woo Lee, MD, PhD, one of the authors of "F-18-FDG Uptake by Metastatic Axillary Lymph Nodes on Pretreatment PET/CT as a Prognostic Factor for Recurrence in Patients with Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer."

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