Prediction of macrometastasis in axillary lymph nodes of patients with invasive breast cancer and the utility of the SUV lymph node/tumor ratio using FDG-PET/CT

BACKGROUND: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is important for improving the prognosis of patients with node-positive breast cancer. However, ALND can be avoided in select micrometastatic cases, preventing complications such as lymphedema or paresthesia of the upper limb. To appropriately omit ALND from treatment, evaluation of the axillary tumor burden is critical. The present study evaluated a method for preoperative quantification of axillary lymph node metastasis using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). METHODS: The records of breast cancer patients who received radical surgery at the Gifu University Hospital (Gifu, Japan) between 2009 and 2014 were reviewed. The axillary lymph nodes were preoperatively evaluated by PET/CT. Lymph nodes were dissected by sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or ALND and were histologically diagnosed by experienced pathologists. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was measured in both the axillary lymph node (SUV-LN) and primary tumor (SUV-T). The SUV-LN/T ratio (NT ratio) was calculated by dividing the SUV-LN by the SUV-T, and the efficacies of the NT ratio and SUV-LN were compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The diagnostic performance was also compared between the techniques with the McNemar test. RESULTS: A total of 171 operable invasive breast cancer patients were enrolled, comprising 69 node-positive patients (macrometastasis (Mac): n = 55; micrometastasis (Mic): n = 14) and 102 node-negative patients (Neg). The NT ratio for node-positive patients was significantly higher than in node-negative patients (0.5 vs. 0.316, respectively, P = 0.041). The NT ratio for Mac patients (0.571) was significantly higher than in Mic (0.227) and Neg (0.316) patients (P <0.01 and P = 0.021, respectively). The areas under the curves (AUCs) by ROC analysis for the NT ratio and SUV-LN were 0.647 and 0.811, respectively (P <0.01). In patients with an SUV-T ≥2.5, the modified AUCs for the NT ratio and SUV-LV were 0.757 and 0.797 (not significant). CONCLUSION: The NT ratio and SUV-LN are significantly higher in patients with axillary macrometastasis than in those with micrometastasis or no metastasis. The NT ratio and SUV-LN can help quantify axillary lymph node metastasis and may assist in macrometastasis identification, particularly in patients with an SUV-T ≥2.5. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12957-014-0424-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.