ABSTRACT
It has been suggested that [111Indium-DTPA-D-Phe] octreotide scintigraphy may be useful in the staging of breast cancer. We evaluated its role in the diagnostic assessment of 40 female patients with palpable breast lumps. All were clinically assessed and imaged by ultrasound or mammography. Thirty patients had adequate FNA cytology performed. Histological examination following core or excision biopsy showed 31 lumps to be benign and 9 to be malignant. All patients with invasive cancer proceeded to wide local excision or mastectomy with an axillary clearance. The mean diameter of malignant lesions was 2.4 cm (SEM 0.3 cm). The sensitivity (22%), specificity (81%) and positive predictive value (25%) of octreotide scintigraphy in the detection of breast cancer was inferior to that of clinical assessment (56%, 90% and 71%), radiological imaging(77%, 96% and 100%) and FNA cytology (88%, 95% and 88%). No axillary uptake of isotope was seen in 4 patients with nodal metastases. Four scans showed uptake of isotope at one or more sites remote from the clinically or radiologically significant lesion. [111Indium-DTPA-D-Phe] octreotide scintigraphy provided no additional diagnostic information to that given by triple assessment and does not appear to have a role in the evaluation of breast lumps.
