Diagnostic Value of PET/CT in Comparison with Other Conventional Imaging Modalities for the Evaluation of Breast Cancer Recurrence: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Background: Despite developments in surgical treatment, radiation therapy,and chemotherapy protocols, tumor recurrence and metastasis are still majorproblems in breast cancer management. The aim of the present report was toreview and compare the performance of PET/CT with some of the conventionalimaging modalities in detection of breast cancer recurrence.Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Europe PMC andScienceDirect databases with no search restriction for the date of publication butthe searchwas limited to papers published inEnglish.Results: Twenty-two studies including a total of 1378 patients with prior breastcancer and clinical suspicion of recurrence that assessed the sensitivity, specificity,and accuracy of PET/CT and other conventional imaging methods in followed upby treated breast cancer and presented the results in systematic review format. Theinformation extracted from each article included the first author, publication year,number of patients and their characteristics, index test(s), sensitivity, specificity,positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy.Conclusions: According to the literature, PET/CT seems to be a more usefulmodality than current techniques to assess the patients with suspected recurrentand metastatic breast cancer. If PET/CT is not applicable, MRI and also bonescintigraphy could also be performed as alternatives.

Diagnostic Value of PET/CT in Comparison with Other Conventional Imaging Modalities for the Evaluation of Breast Cancer Recurrence: A Systematic Review of the Literature Keywords:

PET/CT , recurrence , breast cancer , diagnostic value , imaging modalities