Staging of Breast Cancer with 18F-FDG PET and PET/CT

Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been recognised as a sensitive tool for the staging of various malignancies, such as lung carcinoma, lymphoma, and esophageal cancer. Its role in staging process of breast cancer however is subject to discussion, mainly due to supposedly lower metabolic activity of the disease. In this article, we discuss the current literature on FDG PET/CT for the staging of breast cancer, including staging of the primary tumour and the axilla, and the detection of distant metastases both in primary and recurrent breast cancer. In addition, we will focus on several methodological aspects and acquisition protocols to optimize the imaging of breast cancer patients by FDG PET/CT.