PET/CT in Breast Cancer Rodolfo Núñez Miller, M.D. Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Section Division of Human Health International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna, Austria
Overview Introduction Locorregional staging Distant (Sistemic) staging FDG PET in skeletal metastasis Monitoring response to neoadjuvant therapy Monitoring response to metastatic disease Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) and BSGI Metabolic Flare Future directions: molecular imaging
Breast Cancer Is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in women. Although the incidence continues to rise, mortality has declined over the past several years. This decline has been attributed to both, early diagnosis and more effective treatment. Advances in molecular cancer biology, are bringing a better understanding of breast cancer pathogenesis and progression, which translates into new and effective treatments. Personalized target therapy.
Locoregional Staging with FDG PET/CT There is currently no clinical role for routine FDG PET/CT axillary staging in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.
Locoregional Staging with FDG PET/CT in patients at high risk for nodal disease FDG PET is highly specific for axillary nodal metastases. There may be a certain role for preoperative FDG PET/CT in certain patient populations, such as LABC, IBC, plexopathy and symptomatic metastasis. In these cases, if confirmed by PET, US guided tissue sampling of abnormal findings can confirm the diagnosis.
FDG PET of the Internal Mammary Nodes Is seen in approximately 25% of patients with LABC. Is predictive of both, likelihood and pattern of treatment failure, consistent with IM nodal disease involvement and progression.
PET/CT in Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Study by Carkaci et al., demonstrated that in newly diagnosed unilateral IBC (n=41), FDG PET/CT was positive for ipsilateral axillary nodal involvement in 90%, ipsilateral subpectoral nodes in 44%, and distant metastasis in 49% (17% unknown before PET/CT). FDG PET/CT should be considered in the initial staging of IBC. Carkaci et al. JNM 2009; 50: 231-238
Retrospective Analysis of 18F-FDG PET/CT for Staging Asymptomatic Breast Cancer Patients Younger Than 40 Years. Riedl CC et al. JNM October 2014 PET/CT revealed distant metastases in 17% of asymptomatic stage IIB breast cancer patients younger than 40 y. Although guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommend against systemic staging in patients with stage II disease, our data suggest that PET/CT might be valuable in younger patients with stage IIB and III disease.
PET/CT revealed distant metastases in 17% of asymptomatic stage IIB breast cancer patients younger than 40 y. Although guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommend against systemic staging in patients with stage II disease, our data suggest that PET/CT might be valuable in younger patients with stage IIB and III disease.
Distant (Systemic) Staging with FDG PET Current NCCN practice guidelines, recommend FDG PET as an option for patients with stage 4 disease. In this setting it has been shown to be both, sensitive and specific. FDG PET can be particularly helpful in identifying occult sites of disease; thus affecting therapeutic options. FDG PET or PET/CT can reveal in this setting unknown metastasis in locoregional and mediastinal nodal basins, which are not obtimally evaluated by conventional imaging.
39 year old woman with left breast cancer, treated with surgery (Febr, 2010) followed by chemo. There is known liver involvement. Referred for re-staging after initial therapy.
Systemic Staging with FDG PET FDG PET and PET/CT can improve staging and alter therapeutic options in patients suspected to have recurrent breast cancer and distant metastatic disease. FDG PET can change or affect treatment in up to 44% of patients suspected to have locorregional recurrence.
43 year old woman with left breast cancer, treated initially with surgery, followed by chemo and RT during 2008. PET/CT requested to re-stage after initial therapies. October 2009
43 year old woman with left breast cancer, treated initially with surgery, followed by chemo and RT during 2008. PET/CT requested to re-stage after initial therapies. October 2009
She gets treated with additional chemo. PET/CT is requested 6 months later to assess response to therapy. October 2009 April 2010
She gets treated with additional chemo. PET/CT is requested 6 months later to assess response to therapy. October 2009 April 2010
Staging with FDG PET and PET/CT: When does it help? Is not recommended for routine staging of breast cancer. FDG PET can provide additional information in staging or re-staging cases when results of conventional imaging are equivocal or conflicting. Evaluating asymptomatic patients with rising serum tumor markers without clinical symptoms. FDG PET in this scenario is more accurate than conventional imaging. In a recent study* FDG PET/CT was 90% sensitive for diagnosing recurrent tumor, affecting clinical management in 51% of patients. * Randan L et al. Cancer 2006; 107(11):2545-2551
54 year old woman with breast cancer. Referred for re-staging purposes.
FDG PET and PET/CT of Skeletal Metastases FDG PET is complementary to bone scintigraphy, which remains the standard imaging modality for surveying the skeleton for metastatic disease. FDG PET better for osteolitic. BS better for osteoblastic. In the future F18 Fluoride PET may offer improve bone metastasis detection compared to FDG and BS.
FDG FDG Na 18 F Na 18 F
Monitoring Response to Therapy with FDG PET and PET/CT Neoadjuvant Metastatic Disease
Monitoring response to Neoadjuvant Therapy Limitations of conventional anatomic imaging. Neoadjuvant Therapy can improve surgical options and provide prognostic information. One of the main objectives is to assess response of the primary tumor to the treatment regime. Most studies measure the change in FDG uptake to midtherapy compared to baseline. 50% or more decline in FDG uptake.
Monitoring response to Neoadjuvant Therapy FDG PET may serve as an earlier predictor of response. Absence of FDG uptake is not a reliable indicator of pcr.
Dedicated Molecular Breast Imaging Devices PEM BSGI
BSGI The concept Greater access, close to chest wall, able to image breast only with no background activity and scatter from surrounding organs. Greater maneuverability Less intimidating Enabling Technology CZT detectors, low dead space. Registered colimation Optimized pixel size
Positron Emission Mammography (PEM)
The latest design allows for 12 tomographic slices and PEM directed biopsies.
Advantages in the detection with PEM The advantages are: - Greater spatial resolution. - Improved geometric sensitivity. - Shorter time of image acquisition. - Less attenuation in comparison with PET Fairly small size, with possibility of doing biopsies directed by PEM.
62 y-o IDC 2.4cm mass, PEM ratio 3.4, 0.6 cm satellite RMLO Images of PEM cortesy of Dr. Javier Villanueva-Meyer LMLO
57 y-o IDC unexpected 10 foci in L breast, index lesion 2 cm, PEM ratio 3.7 RCC LCC
43 y old IDC + DCIS index lesion 1,7 cm. PEM ratio 7.7. Multifocal + cysts RMLO LMLO
46 y-o IDC triple negative, R lumpectomy, 8 year FU in remission RCC LCC
Limitations of PEM False Negatives Posterior Lesions Tale of the breast Precision IDC > ILC > DCIS False Positives Recent Biopsy Fat necrosis Fibroadenoma Other benign lesions
PEM as alternative to MR Patients with doubtful / equivocal lesions, which cannot be evaluated by MR (claustrophobia, pacemakers, which happens in approx. 15% of cases). Assessment of response to Neoadjuvant therapy.
Monitoring Response to Metastatic Disease FDG PET can be particularly useful in this setting to evaluate the response to systemic therapy, since conventional imaging is often challenging in these cases (e.g. skeleton). Changes in FDG can be prognostic. Combination of FDG and Na-18F can be helpful to assess the skeleton. However, Na-18F can also have a flare response.
Metabolic flare ER+ Tamoxifen Transient increase in metabolic activity of breast cancer within 1 to 2 wks after starting tamoxifen The increase is about +25% in responders while non responders have no change Seen with FDG and FES Dehdashty & Mortimer
Metabolic Flare Dehdashti et al. Eur J Nucl Med 1999. 26:51-56.
Future Directions: Molecular Imaging Tumor Perfusion and Angiogenesis Imaging. - 15Oxigen water, imbalance of metabolism and perfusion (high mb, and poor perfusion) is associated with poor response and early relapse. - Assess tumor neovasculature, PET probes (RGD peptides) bind to integrins (α 5 β 3 ) in neovessels Tumor Receptor Imaging. - 18Fluoro 17-β-estradiol (FES) - 68Ga-labelled F(ab )2 fragment of trastuzumab, measuring regional HER2 expression in animal models. Early Response Imaging. - FLT. Lilkely to become important in the future. - 124 I Annexin V for apoptosis.
CONCLUSIONS FDG PET and PET/CT have been shown to be most helpful in staging recurrent or metastatic breast cancer, and in evaluating the response of LABC and metastatic disease to treatment. Emerging data support the use of FDG PET/CT in advance axillary disease and evaluation of regional nodal spread in LABC. Currently FDG and occasionally Fluoride PET are used in clinical practice. It is likely that future studies will benefit from tracers other than FDG, for example FES and FLT. As breast cancer diagnosis and therapy become increasingly molecular and individualized, PET/CT imaging will play a progressively more important role in breast cancer patient care.
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