Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of our study is to review the state of the art in nuclear medicine imaging of the breast (scintimammography) and to evaluate a novel, high-resolution, breast-specific gamma camera (HRBGC) for the detection of suspicious breast lesions. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with 58 breast lesions in whom a scintimammogram was clinically indicated were prospectively evaluated with a general-purpose gamma camera and a HRBGC prototype. Nuclear studies were prospectively classified as negative (normal/benign) or positive (suspicious/malignant) by two radiologists, blinded to mammographic and histologic results with both the conventional and high-resolution. All lesions were confirmed by pathology. Results: Included in this study were 30 benign and 28 malignant lesions. The sensitivity for detection of breast cancer was 64.3% (18/28) with the conventional camera and 78.6% (22/28) with the HRBGC. Specificity of both systems was 93.3% (28/30). In the 18 nonpalpable cancers, sensitivity was 55.5% (10/18) and 72.2% (13/18) with the general-purpose camera and HRBGC, respectively. In cancers ≤1cm, 7of 15 were detected with the general-purpose camera and 10 of 15 with the HRBGC. Four of the cancers (median size, 8.5 mm) detected with the HRBGC were missed by the conventional camera Conclusion: Evaluation of indeterminate breasts lesions with a high resolution, breast-specific gamma camera results in improved sensitivity for the detection of cancer with greater improvement demonstrated in nonpalpable and ≤1 cm cancers.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 39-45 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment |
Volume | 497 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 21 2003 |
Event | Breats Imaging - Rome, Italy Duration: Apr 18 2001 → Apr 21 2001 |
Keywords
- Breast neoplasms
- Breast neoplasms, diagnosis
- Breast neoplasms, redionuclide studies
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Instrumentation