Title

Breast-specific gamma imaging as an adjunct modality for the diagnosis of invasive breast cancer with correlation to tumour size and grade

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

6-1-2012

Journal

British Journal of Radiology

Volume

85

Issue

1014

DOI

10.1259/bjr/34392802

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity of breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) in the detection of invasive breast cancers and to characterise the sensitivity of BSGI based on tumour size and pathological grade. Methods: 139 females with invasive carcinoma who underwent BSGI were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were injected in the antecubital vein with 20-30 mCi (925-1110 MBq) of 99mTc-sestamibi. Images were obtained with a high-resolution, breast-specific gamma camera (Dilon 6800; Dilon Technologies, Newport News, VA) and were categorised based on radiotracer uptake as normal, normal with heterogeneous uptake, probably abnormal and abnormal. For a positive examination, the region of the area of increased uptake had to correlate with the laterality and location of the biopsy-proven cancer. Results: 149 invasive cancers in 139 patients with a mean size of 1.8cm (0.2-8.5 cm) were included. 146 were identified with BSGI (98.0%). All cancers which measured ≥0.7 cm (n=123) as well as all cancers grade 2 or higher (n=102), regardless of tumour size, were identified with BSGI (100%). There were 6 cancers that were pathological grade 1 and measured <7 mm, of which 50% (3/6) were identified with BSGI. The overall sensitivity of BSGI for the detection of invasive breast cancer is 98.0%. The sensitivity for subcentimetre cancers is 88.5% (23/26). Conclusion: BSGI has a high sensitivity for the detection of invasive breast cancer. Our results demonstrate that BSGI detected all invasive breast cancers pathological grade 2 and higher regardless of size and all cancers which measured ≥7 mm regardless of grade. BSGI can reliably detect invasive breast cancers and is a useful adjunct imaging modality for the diagnosis of breast cancer. © 2012 The British Institute of Radiology.

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