MAMMOSCINTIGRAPHY WITH TECHNETIUM-99M-SESTAMIBI IN SUSPECTED BREAST-CANCER

Our goal was to determine the clinical usefulness of Tc-99m-sestamibi to identify breast cancer in patients prior to biopsy. Methods: We stu died 66 patients who received 20 mCi Tc-99m-sestamibi intravenously, L ateral and anterior planar images were gathered within 30 min of the i njection. Only focal increased uptake was interpreted as positive. Con firmatory pathologic diagnoses were obtained within 2 mo, The prevalen ce of breast cancer in our sample was 54%. Results: We report an overa ll sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 93% for the diagnosis of brea st cancer. In palpable lesions, the sensitivity was of 94% with a spec ificity of 91%, while in nonpalpable abnormalities the sensitivity was of 64% with a 100% specificity. Six patients with a malignancy had ne gative scans, four of these lesions were nonpalpable. Only two of 31 p atients with benign lesions had an abnormal scan. Conclusion: Mammosci ntigraphy with Tc-99m-sestamibi has high specificity and adequate sens itivity for the noninvasive diagnosis of breast carcinomas.