Clinical use of an imaging probe in breast cancer surgery.
OBJECTIVE
Portable cameras allow easy transfer of the detector, and thus of radioisotope imaging, to the operating room. In this paper we describe our preliminary experience in radionuclide imaging of breast cancer with a 22.8 x 22.8 mm(2) field-of-view minicamera called "Imaging Probe" (IP).


METHODS
Breast cancer detection by IP was performed to guide biopsy, in particular open biopsy, or help fine-needle or core-needle positioning when the main guidance method was ultrasonography or digital radiography. 99mTc Sestamibi (MIBI) was injected 1 h before imaging and biopsy to 14 patients with suspected or known breast cancer. Scintigraphic images were acquired before and after biopsy in each patient. The surgeon was allowed to take into account scintigraphic images as well as previously performed mammograms and ultrasonography.


RESULTS
High-resolution IP images were able to guide biopsy toward cancer or toward washout zones of cancer which are thought to be chemoresistant in seven patients out of 10. Four patients in whom IP and MIBI were unable to guide biopsy were found not to have cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study confirms the ability of IP to guide breast biopsy even when our minicamera has to be handled manually by trained physicians during surgery.
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi