Study participants
metabolic tumor
MALIGNANT TUMORS
Patients with suspected BC undergoing PET/CT at our hospital, from November 2016 to April 2022, were selected via picture archiving and communication as well as hospital information systems, based on the inclusion process depicted in Fig. 
Study workflowInclusion criteria: (1) Exclusion criteria: (1) multifocal, bilateral, or occult BC; (2) incomplete clinical or pathological data; (3) poor PET/CT image quality preventing automated segmentation of metabolic tumor volume (MTV); and (4) concomitant malignant tumors.