Abstract
Despite Medicare approving the use of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in staging primary breast cancer, little evidence is available to support the use of (18)F-FDG-PET/CT for the detection of distant metastases in the initial staging of breast cancer. In this review of the literature listed in MEDLINE, we examine whether (18)F-FDG-PET/CT may play a role in the initial staging of breast cancer. We discuss studies comparing PET/CT with conventional imaging for diagnosing distant metastases and axillary and extra-axillary lymph node metastases.