*3.1. Patients*

Seventy-four patients (37 from each center) with a median age of 49 years (range: 28–94) were included. Most patients presented with clinical stage IIB (48.6%) or III (47.3%) BC (Table 1). FDG PET/CT was performed after primary surgery in four patients, and prior to surgery (*n* = 6) or systemic treatment (*n* = 58 neo-adjuvant and *n* = 6 palliative) in the remaining 70 patients.


**Table 1.** Patient characteristics. **Table 1.** *Cont.*


\* One patient with multifocal BC presented with 2 lesions in the breast, each having a different histological subtype. \*\* These patients directly underwent surgery before (*n* = 4) or after the FDG PET scan (*n* = 6) or received endocrine treatment for metastatic disease (*n* = 5) or locoregional recurrence (*n* = 1) after FDG PET imaging.
