Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common oncological disease among women worldwide characterized by a high mortality rate despite the dynamic development of diagnosis and therapy. The oncologic therapy effectiveness depends strongly on early detection and precise staging of the breast cancer. Among the available methods of imaging, one of the most useful seems to be Nuclear Medicine scanning, mainly: positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) using the using the radiopharmaceutical fluorine-18F-fluorodeoxyglucose - a glucose analogue labeled with the fluorine-18 isotope (2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose, 18F-FDG). So called radioisotope imaging ensures the anatomic and metabolic diagnostic imaging, helpful in the breast cancer staging and restating. Nevertheless, this is just an example among the available and useful in the evaluation of breast cancer techniques or radiopharmaceuticals, which are increasing in number and availability due to the significant development of the nuclear medicine field in recent years.
References
Wilkinson L, Gathani T. Understanding breast cancer as a global health concern. Br J Radiol. 2022 Feb 1;95(1130):20211033. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20211033. Epub 2021 Dec 14. PMID: 34905391; PMCID: PMC8822551.
Wojciechowska U, Barańska K, Miklewska M, Didkowska JA. Cancer incidence and mortality in Poland in 2020. Nowotwory. Journal of Oncology 2023;73(3):129-145. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5603/NJO.2023.0026.
Cserni G. Histological type and typing of breast carcinomas and the WHO classification changes over time. Pathologica. 2020 Mar;112(1):25-41. doi: 10.32074/1591-951X-1-20. PMID: 32202537; PMCID: PMC8138497.
Shah R, Rosso K, Nathanson SD. Pathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. World J Clin Oncol. 2014 Aug 10;5(3):283-98. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i3.283. PMID: 25114845; PMCID: PMC4127601.
Iqbal N, Iqbal N. Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) in Cancers: Overexpression and Therapeutic Implications. Mol Biol Int. 2014;2014:852748. doi: 10.1155/2014/852748. Epub 2014 Sep 7. PMID: 25276427; PMCID: PMC4170925.
Sun YS, Zhao Z, Yang ZN, Xu F, Lu HJ, Zhu ZY, Shi W, Jiang J, Yao PP, Zhu HP. Risk Factors and Preventions of Breast Cancer. Int J Biol Sci. 2017 Nov 1;13(11):1387-1397. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.21635. PMID: 29209143; PMCID: PMC5715522.
Obeagu EI, Obeagu GU. Breast cancer: A review of risk factors and diagnosis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Jan 19;103(3):e36905. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000036905. PMID: 38241592; PMCID: PMC10798762.
McDonald ES, Clark AS, Tchou J, Zhang P, Freedman GM. Clinical Diagnosis and Management of Breast Cancer. J Nucl Med. 2016 Feb;57 Suppl 1:9S-16S. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.115.157834. PMID: 26834110.
Sogani J, Mango VL, Keating D, Sung JS, Jochelson MS. Contrast-enhanced mammography: past, present, and future. Clin Imaging. 2021 Jan;69:269-279. doi: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2020.09.003. Epub 2020 Sep 19. PMID: 33032103; PMCID: PMC8494428.
Jassem J, Krzakowski M, Bobek-Billewicz B et al. Breast cancer. Oncol Clin Pract 2018; 14. DOI: 10.5603/OCP.2018.0027.
Alonso Roca S, Delgado Laguna AB, Arantzeta Lexarreta J, Cajal Campo B, Santamaría Jareño S. Screening in patients with increased risk of breast cancer (part 1): pros and cons of MRI screening. Radiologia (Engl Ed). 2020 Jul-Aug;62(4):252-265. English, Spanish. doi: 10.1016/j.rx.2020.01.007. Epub 2020 Mar 30. PMID: 32241593.
Robson N, Thekkinkattil DK. Current Role and Future Prospects of Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/Computed Tomography (CT) in the Management of Breast Cancer. Medicina (Kaunas). 2024 Feb 14;60(2):321. doi: 10.3390/medicina60020321. PMID: 38399608; PMCID: PMC10889944.
Sarikaya I. Breast Cancer and PET Imaging. Nucl Med Rev Cent East Eur. 2021;24(1):16-26. doi: 10.5603/NMR.2021.0004. PMID: 33576480.
Cserni G, Chmielik E, Cserni B, Tot T. The new TNM-based staging of breast cancer. Virchows Arch. 2018 May;472(5):697-703. doi: 10.1007/s00428-018-2301-9. Epub 2018 Jan 27. PMID: 29380126.
Vaz SC, Oliveira C, Teixeira R, Arias-Bouda LMP, Cardoso MJ, de Geus-Oei LF. The current role of nuclear medicine in breast cancer. Br J Radiol. 2023 Sep;96(1149):20221153. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20221153. Epub 2023 Apr 26. PMID: 37097285; PMCID: PMC10461286.
Ndlovu H, Lawal IO, Mokoala KMG, Sathekge MM. Imaging Molecular Targets and Metabolic Pathways in Breast Cancer for Improved Clinical Management: Current Practice and Future Perspectives. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jan 26;25(3):1575. doi: 10.3390/ijms25031575. PMID: 38338854; PMCID: PMC10855575.
Agata Pietrzak, Rafal Czepczynski, Ewa Wierzchoslawska, Witold Cholewinski. Metabolic activity in bone metastases of breast and prostate cancer were similar as studied by 18F-FDG PET/CT. The role of 99mTc-MDP. Hell J Nucl Med 2017; 20(3): 237-240.
Heindel W, Gübitz R, Vieth V, Weckesser M, Schober O, Schäfers M. The diagnostic imaging of bone metastases. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2014 Oct 31;111(44):741-7. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2014.0741. PMID: 25412631; PMCID: PMC4239579.
Hildebrandt MG, Naghavi-Behzad M, Vogsen M. A role of FDG-PET/CT for response evaluation in metastatic breast cancer? Semin Nucl Med. 2022 Sep;52(5):520-530. doi: 10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2022.03.004. Epub 2022 May 4. PMID: 35525631.
Li X, An C, Zhang W. Is it sufficient to evaluate metastatic bone involvement in breast cancer using SPECT/CT? A new approach of SPECT/CT-guided targeted bone marrow biopsy. BMC Cancer. 2022 Jun 4;22(1):614. doi: 10.1186/s12885-022-09702-1. PMID: 35659208; PMCID: PMC9167511.
Freebody J, Fernando S, Rossleigh MA. Triple-site radiotracer application in breast lymphoscintigraphy and sentinel node discordance. World J Nucl Med. 2019 Apr-Jun;18(2):127-131. doi: 10.4103/wjnm.WJNM_32_18. PMID: 31040742; PMCID: PMC6476254.
Wang J, Wu SG. Breast Cancer: An Overview of Current Therapeutic Strategies, Challenge, and Perspectives. Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press). 2023 Oct 20;15:721-730. doi: 10.2147/BCTT.S432526. PMID: 37881514; PMCID: PMC10596062.
Moo TA, Sanford R, Dang C, Morrow M. Overview of Breast Cancer Therapy. PET Clin. 2018 Jul;13(3):339-354. doi: 10.1016/j.cpet.2018.02.006. PMID: 30100074; PMCID: PMC6092031.
Katal S, McKay MJ, Taubman K. PET Molecular Imaging in Breast Cancer: Current Applications and Future Perspectives. J Clin Med. 2024 Jun 13;13(12):3459. doi: 10.3390/jcm13123459. PMID: 38929989; PMCID: PMC11205053.
Zhang-Yin J. State of the Art in 2022 PET/CT in Breast Cancer: A Review. J Clin Med. 2023 Jan 27;12(3):968. doi: 10.3390/jcm12030968. PMID: 36769616; PMCID: PMC9917740.
Plichta JK, Ren Y, Marks CE, Thomas SM, Greenup RA, Rosenberger LH, Fayanju OM, McDuff SGR, Hwang ES, Force J. Surgery for Men with Breast Cancer: Do the Same Data Still Apply? Ann Surg Oncol. 2020 Nov;27(12):4720-4729. doi: 10.1245/s10434-020-08901-z. Epub 2020 Jul 23. PMID: 32705510; PMCID: PMC7554146.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Letters in Oncology Science