¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose specimen-positron emission mammography delineates tumour extension in breast-conserving...

We aimed to determine whether high-resolution specimen-positron emission mammography (PEM) using fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) can reveal extension of breast cancer in breast-conserving surgery (BCS), and assess the safety of radiation exposure to medical staff.

Sixteen patients underwent positron emission tomography, and then BCS with intraoperative frozen section analysis on the same day. Resected specimens with remaining ¹⁸F-FDG accumulation were scanned by high-resolution PEM. At least 1 day after surgery, tumour extension was evaluated by three independent experienced readers and by binarized images from the specimen-PEM data. Intraoperative exposure of medical staff to ¹⁸F-FDG was measured.

Specimen-PEM evaluations of binarized images and the three investigators detected all (100 %, 12/12) invasive lesions and 94.4 % (17/18) of in situ lesions using both methods. The positive predictive value of the accumulated lesions was 74.4 % (29/39) for the binarized images and 82.9 % (29/35) for the three investigators. Analysis of intraoperative frozen sections detected 100 % (2/2) of the margin-positive cases, also detected by both specimen-PEM evaluation methods with no false-positive margin cases. The mean exposure of the medical staff to ¹⁸F was 18 μSv.

Specimen-PEM detected invasive and in situ lesions with high accuracy and allowable radiation exposure.

• Specimen-PEM detected invasive and in situ lesions with high accuracy. • Specimen-PEM predicted complete resection with the same accuracy as frozen section analysis. • Breast-conserving surgery after fluorodeoxyglucose injection was performed with low medical staff exposure.