Scintigraphy evaluation of reported suspicious masses (BI-RADS 3,4,5) in mammography by 99mTc-MIBI and comparison with biopsy results

Abstract

Due to the high prevalence of breast cancer, mammography is nowadays used as a routine screening method in women at risk, but it has some limitations that the use of mammography scintigraphy as a complement and in some cases even supersedes these limitations. The aim of this study was to evaluate 99mTc-MIBI scinti-mammography in differentiating the nature of suspicious mammograms. Materials and Methods: In this diagnostic study, 31 patients referred to the General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery clinics, with suspected breast mass were enrolled after clinical examination, mammography, and ultrasound had BI-RADS III, IV, and V by the single blinded physician. Mammography scans were referred to the Nuclear Medicine Unit for injection of 99mTc-MIBI radioactivity with a dose of 15-20 mCi static scan (5 to 10 minutes after injection) at various views of the breast and the results were scanned with data. Finally, all cases were referred for biopsy and pathology assay and the results were compared with mammography results. Results: Among totally 37 examined breasts, 28 cases (78.4%), had uptake in mammography. In pathological examination, 9 cases (24.3%) had benign masses, of which all had negative mammography results. There was a statistically significant relationship between the negative result reported by scinti-mammography and the benign pathologies (P=0.001). Mammography had sensitivity and negative predictive value of 100%, respectively compared to biopsy results.