[18F]FDG PET/CT in the staging of inflammatory breast cancer: A systematic review

Up to 78 % of patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) present with axillary lymph node involvement and up to 40 % with distant metastases. Previous studies indicate that 2-deoxy-2-(¹⁸F)fluoro-d-glucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) might be used for initial staging in patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). In other cancer types, [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT has been demonstrated to be a sensitive technique, providing complementary information on locoregional and distant disease to conventional imaging modalities. This systematic review showed that ¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT detects additional locoregional lymph node metastases and distant metastases in 10.3 % of patients, that were not detected with standard staging imaging. Compared with conventional imaging procedures, [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT had better diagnostic performance for detection of locoregional and distant metastases and should standardly be used in the diagnostic work-up of IBC patients.