José Antonio Serna Macias

PET/CT in breast tumors José Antonio Serna Macias

Breast cancer is the most common tumour in Western women, with a high incidence in the 45-55 age group. It is responsible for the death of 40,000 women each year in the United States and is the second leading cause of death in women in Western countries. Despite advances in the treatment of breast cancer as well as surgical techniques, radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy, tumor recurrence and metastases continue to occur frequently. Early staging and accurate restaging of recurrent breast cancer is important in choosing the most appropriate treatment strategy to increase the chance of cure. PET/CT with 18F-FDG is a useful non-invasive tool for accurate staging and re-staging for patients with locally advanced disease and distant metastatic disease. In early stages 1 and 2, nodal staging is performed accurately with the sentinel node. Another utility of PET/CT with 18F-FDG is locoregional restaging and assessment of response to treatment.