Abstract
Aim: to evaluate the possibilities of the N--staging assesment of the breast carcinoma using 18F-FDG-PET/CT. Method: In 26 women examined before surgery using 18F-FDG-PET/CT, the performance was compared when the three-ring PET system was used (15 women) and four-ring PET system with image reconstruction using time-ofiflight and point spread function even with the radiopharmaceuticals dose reduction to 2.5 MBq/kg from 4 MBq/kg.
Results: The sensitivity to detect axillary lmph nodes metastases reached 85%, specificity of 65% in the whole sample, in patients examined by the system enabling the reconstruction time-of-flight and point spread function, the sensitivity was improved significantly to 100% with specificity of 85%. Conclusion: The reconstructions of the PET images with time-of-flight and point spread function were enabling the improvement of the diagnostic performance in N-staging of breast carcinoma even the dose of radiopharmaceutical was descreased to 2.5 Mbq/kg.