Background
Breast cancer is a significant public health concern, and early detection of breast
lesions is crucial for improved patient outcomes. Accurate assessment of axillary
lymph node involvement in breast cancer is vital for staging and treatment
decisions. The purpose of this study was to assess to what extent positron
emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) can be used in the
assessment of negative axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer and to determine
if pathological variability can affect the result of the PET-CT.
Patients and methods
This prospective study was carried out on 50 female patients with locally advanced
breast cancer and with negative PET-CT scans for active axillary lymph nodes. All
studied cases underwent postoperative pathological examination to be compared
with preoperative PET-CT results.
Results
Of the studied cases, 84% showed negative axillary lymph node involvement. PET/
CT exhibited high sensitivity (95.24%) and specificity (87.5%) in predicting positive
nodes, with an axillary maximum standardized uptake value cutoff value of 4.22
(area under the curve=0.923). Logistic regression revealed a significant
association between higher T stage and positive lymph nodes (P |
