Scintimammography: an adjunctive test for the detection of breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the diagnostic utility of scintimammography in patients with a breast mass, including patients who have undergone previous breast surgery or radiotherapy.


METHODS
Descriptive outcome study.


METHODS
A university teaching hospital and a private hospital breast clinic in New South Wales.


METHODS
115 consecutively referred women investigated by x-ray mammography and scintimammography before surgical excision biopsy of a breast mass.


METHODS
Sensitivity and specificity of x-ray mammography and scintimammography in the detection of breast cancer overall, and in women who had or had not undergone previous breast surgery.


RESULTS
44 (38%) patients had undergone previous breast surgery or external beam radiotherapy, including nine with bilateral silicone breast implants. The overall (n = 115) sensitivity for the detection of breast cancer with scintimammography was 84%, compared with 66% for x-ray mammography (P = 0.004), and the respective specificities were 84% and 67% (P = 0.194). For patients who had a history of previous breast surgery, the respective sensitivities of the two tests were 83% and 50% (P = 0.006), compared with 85% and 73% (P = 0.087) for patients who had had no previous surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Scintimammography offers additional diagnostic advantage in the detection of breast cancer in patients who have had previous breast surgery or local radiotherapy.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, NSW.
D
D
Howarth
R
R
Sillar
L
L
Lan
D
D
Clark
T
T
Miles
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity