Comparison between 99m Tc-methoxyisobutyl isonitril and 99m Tc-methylenediphosphonate scintimammography for detection of breast carcinoma

ABSTRACT

The goal of the study was to assess the values of scintimammography with 99mTc-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile [99mTc-MIBI] and 99mTc-methylenediphosphonate [99mTc-MDP] in detecting breast cancer. A total of 35 women with clinical findings of suspicious breast lesions were studied with both 99mTc-MIBI and 99mTc-MDP scintimammography. All patients underwent surgery within 1 week, and the results of the histopathological diagnosis were obtained. Eighteen of 35 abnormalities of the breast were pathologically confirmed as primary breast cancer and 17 as benign lesions. In this group of patients, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 99mTc-MIBI scintimammography were 77.8, 88.2 and 82.9%, respectively, while those of 99mTc-MDP scintimammography were 72.2, 88.2 and 80.8%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the results of 99mTc-MIBI and 99mTc-MDP scintimammography. This study demonstrated a high diagnostic accuracy of both 99mTc-MIBI and 99mTc-MDP scintimammography in detecting breast cancer. Both radiopharmaceuticals can be used as an adjunct method for the noninvasive assessment of breast cancer prior to surgery. However, 99mTc-MDP is less expensive and more readily available than 99mTc-MIBI