Background: Bone scintigraphy is the standard procedure for the detection of bone metastases in breast cancer patients. FDG-PET/CT has been reported to be a sensitive tool for tumor staging in different malignant diseases. However, its accuracy for the detection of bone metastases has not been compared to bone scintigraphy.
Purpose: To compare whole-body FDG-PET/CT and bone scintigraphy for the detection of bone metastases on a lesion basis in breast cancer patients.
Material and methods: Twenty-nine consecutive women (mean age 58 years, range 35-78 years) with histologically proven breast cancer were assessed with bone scintigraphy and whole-body FDG-PET/CT. Twenty-one patients (72%) were suffering from primary breast cancer and eight patients (28%) were in aftercare with a history of advanced breast cancer. Both imaging procedures were assessed for bone metastases by a radiologist and a nuclear medicine physician. Concordant readings between bone scintigraphy and FDG-PET/CT were taken as true. Discordant readings were verified with additional MRI imaging in all patients and follow-up studies in most patients.
Results: A total of 132 lesions were detected on bone scintigraphy, FDG-PET/CT or both. According to the reference standard, 70/132 lesions (53%) were bone metastases, 59/132 lesions (45%) were benign, and three lesions (2%) remained unclear. The sensitivity of bone scintigraphy was 76% (53/70) compared to 96% (67/70) for FDG-PET/CT. The specificity of bone scintigraphy and FDG-PET/CT was 95% (56/59) and 92% (54/59), respectively. According to the reference standard bone metastases were present in eight out of the 29 patients (28%), whereas 20 patients (69%) were free of bone metastases. One (3%) patient had inconclusive readings on both modalities as well as on MRI and follow-up studies. Bone scintigraphy and FDG-PET/CT correctly identified seven out of eight patients with bone metastases and 20 out of 20 patients free of metastases.
Conclusion: On a lesion-basis whole-body FDG-PET/CT is more sensitive and equally specific for the detection of bone metastases compared with bone scintigraphy.