In several Asian populations, including those of Hong Kong, Singapore (Chinese), and the Philippines, breast cancer incidence is significantly lower than in other populations such as those of northern and western Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand (30-50 per 100 000, compared to over 100 per 100 000).
PET-CT is currently used as a complementary modality for breast cancer investigation with conventional imaging, particularly in cases of re-staging, assessment of response to treatment, and problem-solving when results from conventional imaging are equivocal. PET-CT has also been shown to be useful in predicting biological characteristics of tumours pre-therapeutically, with higher SUV (using cutoff value 4.0) tumours carrying a higher risk of relapse and a higher mortality rate compared to tumours with low SUV.