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Prediction of breast cancer recurrence using lymph node metabolic and volumetric parameters from 18F-FDG PET/CT in operable triple-negative breast cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

Triple-negative breast cancer has a poor prognosis. We evaluated several metabolic and volumetric parameters from preoperative 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in the prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer and compared them with current clinicopathologic parameters.

Methods

A total of 228 patients with triple-negative breast cancer (mean age 47.0 ± 10.8 years, all women) who had undergone preoperative PET/CT were included. The PET/CT metabolic parameters evaluated included maximum, peak, and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax, SUVpeak, and SUVmean, respectively). The volumetric parameters evaluated included metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). Metabolic and volumetric parameters were evaluated separately for tumor (T) and lymph nodes (N). The prognostic value of these parameters was compared with that of clinicopathologic parameters.

Results

All lymph node metabolic and volumetric parameters showed significant differences between patients with and without recurrence. However, tumor metabolic and volumetric parameters showed no significant differences. In a univariate survival analysis, all lymph node metabolic and volumetric parameters (SUVmax-N, SUVpeak-N, SUVmean-N, MTV-N, and TLG-N; all P < 0.001), T stage (P = 0.010), N stage (P < 0.001), and TNM stage (P < 0.001) were significant parameters. In a multivariate survival analysis, SUVmax-N (P = 0.005), MTV (P = 0.008), and TLG (P = 0.006) with TNM stage (all P < 0.001) were significant parameters.

Conclusions

Lymph node metabolic and volumetric parameters were significant predictors of recurrence in patients with triple-negative breast cancer after surgery. Lymph node metabolic and volumetric parameters were useful parameters for evaluating prognosis in patients with triple-negative breast cancer by 18F-FDG PET/CT, rather than tumor parameters.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Yong-il Kim and Yong Joong Kim contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Korea

    Yong-il Kim

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea

    Yong-il Kim, Jin Chul Paeng, Gi Jeong Cheon, Dong Soo Lee, June-Key Chung & Keon Wook Kang

  3. Veterans Health Service Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

    Yong Joong Kim

  4. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    June-Key Chung & Keon Wook Kang

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Keon Wook Kang

  6. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehak-ro, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 03080, Korea

    Keon Wook Kang

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  1. Yong-il Kim
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Correspondence to Keon Wook Kang.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2009-0093820), and by a grant from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI14C1072).

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None.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kim, Yi., Kim, Y.J., Paeng, J.C. et al. Prediction of breast cancer recurrence using lymph node metabolic and volumetric parameters from 18F-FDG PET/CT in operable triple-negative breast cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 44, 1787–1795 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-017-3748-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-017-3748-7

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