PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cecelia S. Yap
AU  - Marc A. Seltzer
AU  - Christiaan Schiepers
AU  - Sanjiv S. Gambhir
AU  - Jyotsna Rao
AU  - Michael E. Phelps
AU  - Peter E. Valk
AU  - Johannes Czernin
TI  - Impact of Whole-Body <sup>18</sup>F-FDG PET on Staging and Managing Patients with Breast Cancer: The Referring Physician’s Perspective
DP  - 2001 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - 1334--1337
VI  - 42
IP  - 9
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/42/9/1334.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/42/9/1334.full
SO  - J Nucl Med2001 Sep 01; 42
AB  - FDG PET has emerged as an important clinical imaging modality for diagnosing and staging cancer. However, the impact of FDG PET on staging and managing patients with breast cancer from the referring physician’s point of view is unknown. Methods: The referring physicians of 160 breast cancer patients received standardized questionnaires inquiring if and how PET findings altered their patient’s stage and their clinical management decisions. Management changes were classified as intermodality if the change was from one modality to another (e.g., medical to surgical, surgical to radiation, medical to no treatment, and vice versa) or as intramodality if the change was within the same modality (e.g., altered medical or radiotherapy approach). Results: Fifty of the 160 surveys were completed (31% response rate). PET changed the clinical stage in 36% of patients (28% upstaged, 8% downstaged) and resulted in intermodality changes in 28% of patients and intramodality changes in 30% of patients. Conclusion: The results of this prospective survey show that FDG PET has a major impact on the management of breast cancer patients, influencing both clinical stage and management in more than 30% of patients.