Skeletal metastases from breast cancer: uptake of 18F-fluoride measured with positron emission tomography in correlation with CT.

OBJECTIVE

To characterise the uptake of 18F in skeletal metastases from breast cancer using positron emission tomography (PET) and to relate these findings to the appearance on CT.

PATIENTS AND

DESIGN

PET with 18F and CT were performed in five patients with multiple skeletal metastases from breast cancer. The CT characteristics were analysed in areas with high uptake on the PET study. Dynamic PET imaging of the skeletal kinetics of the 18F-fluoride ion were included.

RESULTS

The areas of abnormal high accumulation of 18F correlated well with the pathological appearance on CT. Lytic as well as sclerotic lesions had markedly higher uptake than normal bone, with a 5-10 times higher transport rate constant for trapping of the tracer in the metastatic lesions than in normal bone.

CONCLUSION

PET with 18F-fluoride demonstrates very high uptake in lytic and sclerotic breast cancer metastases.