Nucl Med Mol Imaging.  2016 Sep;50(3):246-254. 10.1007/s13139-016-0412-2.

The Relationship Between Estrogen Receptor, Progesterone Receptor and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Expression of Breast Cancer and the Retention Index in Dual Phase ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT

• Moon H
• Noh WC
• Kim HA
• Kim EK
• Park KW
• Lee SS
• Choi JH
• Han KW
• Byun BH
• Lim I
• Kim BI
• Choi CW
• Lim SM

• KMID: 2351649
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-016-0412-2

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study investigates the correlation of retention index (RI) using the dual phase FDG PET/CT scan with the breast cancer biomarkers.
METHODS
A total of 55 patients with breast cancer underwent dual phase FDG PET/CT scans (60 and 120 min after FDG injection) before treatment. SUVmax and SUVmean of the primary breast tumors were measured, then the percent change of SUVmax and SUVmean between the two scans were calculated, and denoted as RImax and RImean, respectively. After the surgical resection of the breast tumor, the status of biomarkers (ER, PR, and HER-2) was evaluated in the postsurgical specimen.
RESULTS
RImean was significantly higher in ER (−) (median, 16.2; IQR, 10.8-21.0) or HER-2 (+) (median, 16.1; IQR, 10.7-21.6) tumors than in ER (+) tumors (median, 9.9; IQR, 5.5-15.3) or HER-2 (−) tumors (median, 10.5; IQR, 5.5-16.1). However, there were no significant differences of SUVmax or RImax according to the ER or HER-2 status. There were no significant differences of any PET parameters between PR (+) and PR (−) tumors. Based off ROC curve analyses, RImean predicted the ER (+) tumors (AUC, 0.699; p=0.006), and HER-2 (+) tumors (AUC, 0.674; p=0.022), but not the PR (+) tumors. However, neither SUVmax nor RImax predicted ER (+), PR (+), or HER-2 (+) tumors.
CONCLUSIONS
Retention index of SUVmean can reflect the ER and HER-2 status of breast cancers. Higher retention index of SUVmean might associate with lower ER expression and higher HER-2 expression.

Keyword

Breast cancer; Dual phase; Estrogen receptor; Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; Positron emission tomography; Retention index

MeSH Terms

Biomarkers
Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Epidermal Growth Factor*
Estrogens*
Humans*
Positron-Emission Tomography
Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography*
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor*
Receptors, Progesterone*
ROC Curve
Biomarkers
Epidermal Growth Factor
Estrogens
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Receptors, Progesterone