Purpose In patients with ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR), the detection of distant disease determines whether the intention of the treatment is curative or palliative. Therefore, adequate preoperative staging is imperative for optimal treatment planning. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of conventional imaging techniques, including chest X-ray and/or CT thorax-(abdomen), liver ultrasonography(US), and skeletal scintigraphy, on the distant recurrence-free interval (DRFI) in patients with IBTR, and to compare conventional imaging with 18F-FDG PET-CT or no imaging at all. Methods This study was exclusively based on the information available at time of diagnoses of IBTR. To adjust for differences in baseline characteristics between the three imaging groups, a propensity score (PS) weighted method was used. Results Of the 495 patients included in the study, 229 (46.3%) were staged with conventional imaging, 89 patients (19.8%) were staged with 18F-FDG PET-CT, and in 168 of the patients (33.9%) no imaging was used (N=168). After a follow-up of approximately 5 years, 14.5% of all patients developed a distant recurrence as frst event after IBTR. After adjusting for the PS weights, the Cox regression analyses showed that the diferent staging methods had no signifcant impact on the DRFI. Conclusions This study showed a wide variation in the use of imaging modalities for staging IBTR patients in the Netherlands. After using PS weighting, no statistically signifcant impact of the diferent imaging modalities on DRFI was shown. Based on these results, it is not possible to recommend staging for distant metastases using 18F-FDG PET-CT over conventional imaging techniques

doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05205-z, hdl.handle.net/1765/116838
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
Department of Urology

Poodt, I.G.M., Schipper, R.J., de Greef, B.T.A., Vugts, G., Maaskant-Braat, A.J.G., Jansen, F., … van Ooijen, B. (2019). Screening for distant metastases in patients with ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence: the impact of different imaging modalities on distant recurrence-free interval. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 175(2), 419–428. doi:10.1007/s10549-019-05205-z