Factors Associated with 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Uptake in T1 and T2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of the Breast

Purpose The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between diversity of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) uptake of primary tumor in positron emission tomography (PET) and various clinicopathologic factors in breast cancer of same pathologic T1, T2 stage. Methods A total of 258 patients with invasive ductal breast cancer were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent 18 F-FDG PET-CT before surgery. Patients were divided into two groups according to tumor size based on the pathologic T stage, and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of 2.5, respectively. Results On the univariate analysis, estrogen receptor (ER), tumor size, lymphovascular invasion, p53, pathologic N status (pN) and Nottingham tumor grade (NG) were associated with high SUVmax in T1 and T2 breast cancer. On the multivariate logistic regression, tumor size and NG remained significant variables dividing high and low SUVmax. In the T1 group, ER, p53 and NG were significantly associated with high SUVmax on the univariate analysis. In this group, p53 and NG remained significant variables for dividing high and low SUVmax on the multivariate logistic regression. In the T2 group, only NG was associated with high SUVmax on the univariate analysis. Conclusions NG showed an association with 18 F-FDG uptake in both T1 and T2 breast cancer independently; however, p53 in T1 breast cancer.