Loading
Life sciences · Journal article
Cancers · October 14, 2026
No summary has been generated for this record yet. What follows is drawn from its source metadata only.
Journal article.
No findings were extractable from the material analysed.
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
The source did not state who this applies to in practice.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
This record has not been graded across any dimension yet. Treat the label above as provisional and read the source.
What is missing. This record has no bottom line, key findings, reported figures, evidence dimensions. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Background: Accurate axillary response prediction is clinically relevant in clinically node-positive (cN+) breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemo-(immuno)therapy (NAC). This study evaluated the value of [18F]FDG PET/CT-derived metabolic characteristics and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to predict axillary pathologic complete response (pCR). Second, the association between [18F]FDG PET/CT-derived metabolic characteristics and TILs was evaluated. Methods: This retrospective study included cN+ breast cancer patients treated with NAC and axillary surgery from the prospective multicentre RISAS trial (NCT02800317). Baseline [18F]FDG PET/CT-derived metabolic activity of the breast tumour, axillary lymph node metastases (ALNMs), and spleen was assessed, together with TILs measured in the breast tumour and ALNMs. TILs were classified as low (<10%) versus high (≥10%). Associations were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analysis. Results: Of 135 patients, 46 (34.1%) achieved axillary pCR. Higher liver mean tumour-to-background ratio (2.7 vs. 1.9, p = 0.042), trends towards higher breast and ALNM maximum standardised uptake value (SUVmax), lower splenic SUVmax and high breast tumour TILs were associated with axillary pCR. Multivariable logistic regression combining tumour grade, subtype, maximum spleen-to-liver ratio, and breast tumour TILs yielded an apparent area under the curve of 0.80 [95%CI 0.73–0.88]. Higher ALNM SUVmax and SUVmean (10.5 vs. 6.3, p = 0.024; 6.4 vs. 3.7, p = 0.015) and lower splenic SUVmean (2.6 vs. 3.1, p = 0.035) were associated with high breast tumour TILs. Conclusions: A model combining clinicopathological, metabolic, and immune-related characteristics may be informative for predicting axillary response to NAC but did not perform better than clinicopathological characteristics alone. Future studies should evaluate whether accurate prediction models can support safe axillary treatment de-escalation.