Abstract

Introduction: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 15-20% of all breast cancers, and is associated with a high recurrence rate and poorer prognosis. The aim of this study was to determine the predictive values of [18F] FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in the occurrence of metastases in patients diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.
Materials and methods: 02-year retrospective descriptive and analytical study. All patients diagnosed with TNBC who underwent [18F] FDG PET/CT as part of the extension work-up were included. An association between the occurrence of metastases and the various metabolic parameters of the PET/CT was sought.
Results: A total of 48 patients were enrolled, with a mean age of 49.8 ± 12.6 years. The tumor was unilateral in 93.7% and multifocal in 8.3% of patients. The predominant histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (81.2%). The mean tumour size was 38.5 mm, with a mean SUVmax of 7.4 and a mean MTV estimated at 82.4 cm3. Over 20% of patients had metastatic disease. The most frequent secondary sites were bone (16.7%) and lung (10.4%). All our patients were secondarily restaged by PET/CT after the initial CT scan. Analysis of the influence of certain clinical and metabolic variables on the occurrence of metastases showed that age > 50 years, tumour size ≥ 20 mm, bilateral involvement, presence of multifocal focus, SUVmax ≥ 5 and MTV ≥ 50 cm3 were associated with the occurrence of metastases in patients.
Conclusion: Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive histological subtype avid for FDG. Our study showed an association between metabolic parameters on PET/CT and the occurrence of metastases in TNBC patients

Key words: Breast cancer, metastasis, Positron-Emission Tomography, triple negative