How a PET Scan Helps in Detecting Breast Cancer

What is a PET scan?

A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan is an imaging test that produces inside images of patients organs and tissues at work. These tests are considered as safe, an injectable radioactive chemical also known as a radiotracer and a device called PET scanner.

This scanner helps to detect diseased cells that absorb large amounts of radiotracer, which indicates more potential health concerns. A medical professional frequently uses PET scans to help diagnose cancer and assess cancer treatment. Many studies suggest that these scans are used to assess certain heart and brain issues with the scan.

How PET Scan helps in Breast Cancer Detection?

PET scans are not the primary step towards confirming breast cancer detection. While they are crucial for diagnosing, staging, and planning further treatments, especially in advanced breast cancer cases.

Mammography and ultrasound are the standard diagnostic tools used as an initial diagnosis of breast cancer. A PET scan offers unique insights into the breast tumor’s activity, its size and extent, and its potential spread and growth throughout the body.

• Detecting cancer spread: PET scans help to identify if cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body, also known as metastasis. 
• Evaluating aggressive tumors: PET scans can be useful to detect a high glucose intake, these scans can identify areas of active, potentially aggressive cancer cells. 
• Guiding biopsies: Performing PET scans can highlight some specific areas of a tumor that are highly metabolically active, which further allows for more precise biopsy targeting. 
• Monitoring treatment responses: A decrease in sugar uptake on a PET scan after the treatment indicates whether the cancer is responding to the treatments. These scans help with measuring metabolic activity, and reduction of FDG uptake shows that these cells are less metabolically active, which is a sign of the treatment's effectiveness.  
• Detecting cancer recurrence: PET scans are considered highly crucial in diagnosing whether the cancer has returned, especially in patients with a history of these cancers. These tests are helpful in finding very small areas of returning cancer that might be missed in any other tests.

Limitations of PET Scan

PET scans are a valuable diagnostic tool for these cancers. While these tests are not considered as a replacement for mammograms, MRIs, or biopsies.

Here are some limitations of these scans, including:

• Lower sensitivity of small tumors: Many studies suggest that these scans have an ability to detect and diagnose small tumors, especially those under 1 cm. The sensitivity is also lower for non-invasive, additionally slowly growing invasive tumors, such as lobular carcinoma that has lower metabolic activity.
• False positives: An area of inflammation, high metabolic activity, or infection cannot always be considered as cancerous. For example, inflammation, infections, benign tumors, and recent surgery or radiation therapy can often cause an increased radiotracer intake, which can result in false-positive results.
• Cost and availability: PET scans are generally expensive and, as highly advanced medical procedures, not as widely available like any other imaging tests. For instance, a single whole-body PET scan can cost more than a mammogram.