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Departments of 1Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology and 2Nuclear Medicine, University
Hospital Essen, Germany
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of a
dedicated positron emission tomography (PET)/CT protocol in breast cancer patients. 40
patients with suspected recurrent breast cancer underwent whole-body PET/CT in the
supine position (SP) followed by PET/CT of the breasts and axillae in the prone position
(PP) using a special positioning aid. PP and SP images were compared in terms of the
tumour-to-thoracic-wall distance, tumour-to-skin distance and tumour volume,
diameter, density, maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and localization. The
size of axillary areas, the number of intra-axillary lymph nodes, their transverse
diameters, their SUVmax and the number of distant metastases were compared between
PP and SP images. Differences were tested for significance using the Students t-test. All
patients tolerated PP imaging well. Five locally recurrent breast cancers were detected,
both in the SP and in the PP. Mean tumour-to-thoracic-wall distances (PP, 19 mm; SP,
8 mm; p50.003) and tumour-to-skin distances (PP, 10 mm; SP, 7 mm; p50.013) were
significantly larger in the PP than in the SP. Potential thoracic wall or skin infiltration, as
well as quadrant localization, were determined more easily in PP. The axillary area was Received 9 June 2007
wider in the PP when compared with SP (PP, 14.4 cm2; SP, 10.6 cm2; p,0.001). No other Revised 1 August 2007
parameters were significantly different. In conclusion, a dedicated whole-body PET/CT Accepted 29 August 2007
examination, including PET/CT mammography, is feasible for clinical practice and may
DOI: 10.1259/bjr/69647413
offer important information on the possible infiltration of a breast lesion into the
adjacent thoracic wall and skin. Even though the axilla may be delineated more clearly 2008 The British Institute of
in the PP, there seems to be no benefit with regard to N-staging. Radiology
Accurate tumour staging represents a precondition in staging algorithms [7, 8]. However, PET/CT has been
breast cancer patients to determine further therapy. used primarily for the assessment of potential lymph
Different imaging modalities for tumour staging are node metastases and distant metastases in breast cancer
available; however, X-ray mammography is the most patients. Mammography in conjunction with ultrasound,
widely used technique for diagnosis of the primary as well as MR mammography, has remained the method
lesion in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients of choice for imaging the breast and primary tumour.
[1, 2]. Correlation of mammography findings with those Theoretically, patient positioning similar to that per-
from ultrasound and MRI has been found to be helpful formed in MR mammography may provide more
for the differential diagnosis of a breast lesion and for the accurate information on the primary tumour and axilla
detection of occult breast tumours [3, 4]. Mammography in PET/CT. This study was designed to assess the
is complemented by staging for locoregional lymph node technical feasibility of a disease-defined PET/CT proto-
metastases and distant metastases. This multimodality, col for breast cancer patients that combined whole-body
multistep staging algorithm may include chest radio- PET/CT staging with PET/CT mammography.
graph, ultrasound, CT of the chest and/or abdomen and
tumour markers.
The growing availability of dual-modality PET/CT Methods and materials/patients
systems opens new diagnostic oncological strategies [5,
6]. PET/CT has been found to be beneficial in patients 40 female patients (mean age, 58 years11 years) who
with breast cancer when compared with conventional had received initial treatment for breast cancer but who
had suspected disease progression and/or suspected
recurrent breast lesions (based on rising tumour markers,
Address correspondence to: Gerald Antoch, Department of clinical findings or mammography findings) were
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology,
University Hospital Essen, University at Duisburg-Essen, included. Histopathology of recurrent breast lesions
Germany. E-mail: gerald.antoch@uni-duisburg-essen.de was available for image correlation. Histopathology of
PET/CT system/workstation
PET/CT imaging was performed on a biograph2 PET/
CT system (Siemens Molecular Imaging, Hoffman Estates,
IL) composed of a dual-slice CT scanner (Somatom
Emotion2; Siemens Medical Solutions, Forchheim,
Germany) and a full-ring PET scanner (ECAT HR+2; Figure 1. Breast positioning device (Additec Mamma
Siemens Molecular Imaging, Hoffman Estates, IL). The Comfort2) made from foam plastic. The device is constructed
PET system had an axial field of view of 15.5 cm per bed for prone breast positioning.
position and an in-plane spatial resolution of 4.6 mm. CT
was performed first, followed by PET. one or two bed positions for the prone scan. PET emission
All measurements were performed on an AW Suite2 time was set to either 6 min or 7 min, depending on the
Workstation (General Electrics Healthcare, Munich, volume of the breast. PET image reconstruction was
Germany). Differences between measurements made in performed according to the SP protocol.
the supine position (SP) and the prone position (PP) were
tested for significance (p,0.05) with the Students t-test.
One radiologist and one nuclear medicine physician with Technical feasibility
more than 3 years of experience in PET/CT evaluated all
images in consensus. All patients were questioned for potential discomfort
during prone imaging compared with supine imaging.
The additional time (min) required for prone imaging
was reported, as was the number of additionally
Imaging protocol
required bed positions.
The dedicated breast PET/CT protocol consisted of
two parts. Firstly, a whole-body PET/CT scan was
performed in the SP, covering a field of view from the Delineation of breast lesions
head to the upper thighs. Image acquisition was
performed in the caudocranial direction with 100 mAs In the case of local recurrence, the lesion was localized
and 130 kV. 140 ml of an intravenous contrast agent within a specific quadrant and these results were
(Ultravist 3002; Schering AG, Berlin, Germany) contain- compared with operative results and histopathology.
ing 300 mg ml1 of iodine were administered with an Lesions were identified by elevated focal tracer uptake
automated injector (XD 55002; Ulrich Medical Systems, on PET/CT. Size measurements were taken from CT
Ulm, Germany) with a flow rate of 3 ml s1 for the first images using the distance and volume measuring func-
90 ml, and 1.5 ml s1 for the following 50 ml. The start tions of the AW Suite2 5.5.3e Volume Viewer Plus2
delay was 50 s. Images were reconstructed with a 5 mm Workstation (General Electrics Healthcare). Tumour-to-
slice thickness and a 2.4 mm increment. Following skin and tumour-to-thoracic-wall distances were deter-
acquisition of the CT data, PET images were obtained mined (mm) to assess any potential infiltration of the
60 min after injection of ,340 MBq of 18F-fluorodeoxy- lesion into adjacent structures (Figure 2). The largest axial
glucose (FDG). PET emission time was adapted to the diameters and vertical diameters of all lesions were
patients body weight: ,65 kg, 4 min per bed position; measured (mm), and the lesion volumes (mm3) were
6585 kg, 5 min per bed position; and .85 kg, 6 min per assessed. Maximal standardized uptake values (SUVmax)
bed position. Iterative algorithms (FORE (Fourier rebin- and mean densities (Hounsfield Units (HU)) of all breast
ning) and AWOSEM (attenuation-weighted expectation lesions were measured in both the PP and the SP.
maximization), non-linear) with two iterations and eight
subsets were used for image reconstruction. Data were
filtered (FWHM (full width at half maximum) 5.0 mm) Assessment of ipsilateral axilla
and scatter was corrected.
The second part of the breast-specific protocol was Axillary regions were evaluated for clear anatomical
performed after repositioning the patient into the PP depiction in the SP and the PP; the area of axillary fat (i.e.
using a special breast positioning aid (Additec Mamma the area between the outer margin of the latissimus
Comfort2; Additec GmbH, Markt Indersdorf, Germany; dorsi/major teres muscle and the minor/major pector-
Figure 1). A topogram in the lateral view was performed alis muscle) was measured (mm2) (Figure 3). From PP
to define the scan range from the axilla to the lower end of and SP imaging, the number of detectable intra-axillary
the breasts. No additional contrast medium was applied lymph nodes was recorded, and the transverse diameters
for PET/CT in the PP. Image acquisition was performed (mm) of all intra-axillary lymph nodes were measured.
in a caudocranial direction. CT parameters were the same In addition, the SUVmax of all axillary lymph nodes with
as those in the SP. The number of PET bed positions was qualitatively detectable increased tracer uptake was
adapted to include the breasts and axillae. This resulted in measured on both the supine and the prone scans.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 2. Contralateral breast cancer manifestation in a 47-year-old woman on (a,b) fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission
tomography (FDG-PET)/CT and on (c,d) CT; the tumour can be more clearly distinguished from adjacent structures in the prone
position (a,c) than in the supine position (b,d). On prone imaging, thoracic wall infiltration can be clearly negated because of
the fatty tissue separating the tumour and thoracic wall in the prone position (c) but not in the supine position (d).
Assessment of distant metastases This included the repositioning of the patient and the PP
PET/CT investigation. The mean PET emission time was
The number of distant metastases within the field of 6.50.5 min per bed position in the PP. In 28 patients, 1
view of SP and PP protocols was reported. bed position was scanned in the PP, whereas 2 bed
positions were scanned in the PP in 12 patients.
Results
Delineation of breast lesions
Technical feasibility
6 of the 40 patients suffered from histopathologically
All patients tolerated PET/CT in the PP well. The confirmed local breast cancer recurrence (mean age,
additional time required for PP PET/CT was 205 min. 50.4 years; range, 4266 years; standard deviation (SD),
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Visualization of axillary fat in (a) the prone position and (b) the supine position on CT. The axillary area measures
40 cm2 in the prone position and 24 cm2 in the supine position. Prone positioning offers a more extensive evaluation of the
axillary fat and its lymph nodes. 1, major pectoral muscle; 2, minor pectoral muscle; 3, latissimus dorsi muscle; 4, major teres
muscle.
9.7 years). Of these six local recurrences, five were different breast cancer lesions detected with PET/CT are
detected by PET/CT mammography. One small FDG- shown in Table 1.
PET-negative multifocal tumour was not identified by
either the PET or the CT protocol. The histological sizes
of the three small tumour lesions constituting this Assessment of the ipsilateral axilla
moderately differentiated, multifocal, invasive ductal
mammarian cancer were 11 mm, 5 mm and 5 mm in Because of the significantly wider area of axillary fat
diameter. Two ipsilateral and three contralateral recur- seen in the PP (14.47.3 cm2) compared with the SP
rences were identified with PET/CT in both the SP and (10.64.7 cm2; p,0.001), different anatomical structures
the PP. In one breast lesion, quadrant localization was of the axilla may be more easily differentiated from each
impossible in the SP but was achieved in the PP (lower other in the PP (Figure 3). No significant differences
outer quadrant). The mean tumour-to-skin distances (SP, were detected in the number of lymph nodes (n587 each
78 mm; PP, 1013 mm; p50.013) and mean tumour- for PP and SP; p51.0), their transverse diameters (SP,
to-thoracic-wall distances (SP, 817 mm; PP, 52 mm; PP, 52 mm; p50.915) or the SUVmax of
1931 mm; p50.003) were significantly higher in the lymph nodes with qualitatively increased tracer uptake
PP than in the SP (Figure 2), indicating better delineation (SP, 6.53.2; PP, 5.52.8; p5 0.061).
of the tumour from the thoracic wall and the skin. No
significant differences were detected between the PP and
the SP when assessing the maximal axial lesion diameter Assessment of distant metastases
(SP, 5543 mm; PP, 5739 mm; p50.465), the maximal
vertical lesion diameter (SP, 2011 mm; PP, 1911 mm; 40 distant metastases were detected within the limited
p50.189), lesion volume (SP, 8.78.4 cm3; PP, field of view of the prone protocol in 16 patients. When
9.28.6 cm3; p50.119), lesion SUVmax (SP, 6.98.9; PP, assessing the same field of view in the SP, the same
7.410.0; p50.396) or mean lesion density (SP, number of distant metastases was detected. The location
4122 HU; PP, 4423 HU; p50.487). The sizes of the of the distant metastases is shown in Table 2.
1 21613 30613
2 63635 64633
3 12568 11965
4 49626 51626
5 19616 19616
Bone 15 4
Lymph nodes 12 3
Lung 10 2
Pleura 2 2
Liver 1 2
All lymph nodes listed are distant lymph node metastases, e.g. hilar or infracarinal lymph node metastases. 4 of 15 bone
metastases (26.7%) were not detected with CT alone, as were 3 of 12 lymph node metastases (25%).
PET, positron emission tomography.
breast cancer recurrence, PP imaging of the breasts may 6. Czernin J, Allen-Auerbach M, Schelbert HR. Improvements
add important information on tumour infiltration com- in cancer staging with PET/CT: literature-based evidence
pared with SP imaging alone. Even though the axilla as of September 2006. J Nucl Med 2007;48:7888.
may be delineated more clearly in the PP, there seems to 7. Zangheri B, Messa C, Picchio M, Gianolli L, Landoni C,
be no benefit with regard to N-staging compared with SP Fazio F. PET/CT and breast cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol
Imaging 2004;31:13542.
imaging. Owing to the small sample size of this initial
8. Tatsumi M, Cohade C, Mourtzikos KA, Fishman EK, Wahl
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further studies will need to assess the actual accuracy of of breast cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2006;33:-
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Acknowledgments 11. Brix G, Henze M, Doll J, Lucht R, Zaers J, Trojan H, et al.
We thank Thomas Beyer, PhD, for his organizational Diagnostic evaluation of the breast using PET: optimization
support and Additec GmbH for providing the position- of data aquisition and postprocessing. Nuklearmedizin
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12. Pfleiderer A, Breckwoldt M, Martius G. Invasives
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