The Clinical Added Value of Breast Cancer Imaging Using Hybrid PET/MR Imaging

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Accurate cancer staging is crucial for effective treatment planning.
• Whole-body positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging is an emerging technique for comprehensive cancer assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of dedicated MR imaging and whole-body PET/MR imaging in the initial staging of cancer.
• To compare PET/MR imaging with PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) for staging accuracy and radiation dose.

Main Methods:

• Dedicated MR imaging for primary lesion evaluation.
• Whole-body PET/MR imaging for initial staging, including nodal (N) and distant metastasis (M) assessment.
• Comparison of PET/MR imaging with PET/CT for M staging, considering lung lesions specifically.

Main Results:

• Dedicated MR imaging is highly effective for primary lesion evaluation and should supplement whole-body PET/MR imaging.
• PET/MR imaging demonstrates high sensitivity for nodal involvement, potentially combined with ultrasound for N staging confirmation.
• PET/MR imaging surpasses PET/CT for M staging (except lung lesions) at half the radiation dose.

Conclusions:

• Whole-body PET/MR imaging is a valuable tool for initial cancer staging, offering advantages in primary lesion evaluation, nodal detection, and distant metastasis assessment.
• PET/MR imaging provides high diagnostic performance with reduced radiation exposure compared to PET/CT.
• Future advancements in radiomics and artificial intelligence may further enhance the predictive capabilities of multiparametric PET/MR imaging.