DETECTION OF AXILLARY LYMPH-NODE METASTASES IN BREAST-CARCINOMA BY TC-99M SESTAMIBI BREAST SCINTIGRAPHY, ULTRASOUND AND CONVENTIONAL MAMMOGRAPHY

Axillary lymph node status is important in the staging of breast carci noma. To evaluate the accuracy of technetium-99m sestamibi breast scin tigraphy in detecting metastatic axillary lymph nodes as compared with other accepted imaging modalities, we performed Tc-99m-sestamibi brea st scintigraphy, conventional mammography and ultrasound in 36 patient s with primary untreated breast carcinoma. With histopathology as the gold standard, Tc-99m-sestamibi breast scintigraphy was found to yield true-positive results in 7 of 11 cases (64%) of axillary lymph node m etastases and true-negative results in 18 of 20 cases (90%); it has an accuracy of 81%, a positive predictive value of 77.8% and a negative predictive value of 81.8%.