The Usefulness of Mammography and Scintimammography in Differential Diagnosis of Breast Tumor

Kang, Bong Joo; Chung, Young An; Jung, Hyun Seok; Jung, Jung Im; Yoo, Ie Ryung; Kim, Sung Hoon; Sohn, Hyung Sun; Chung, Soo Kyo; Hahn, Seong Tai; Lee, Jae Mun

Abstract

PURPOSE
It is very important to differentiate breast cancer from benign mass. There are many reports to evaluate the differential diagnosis under the several diagnostic tools. We evaluated the usefulness of mammography and Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography in the differential diagnosis of breast mass and correlated with pathologic findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 80 patients (age: 24-72, mean: 48.4) who underwent mammography and Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography for breast masses. Scintimammographies (anterior-posterior and lateral projections) were acquired in 10 minutes and 2 hours after intravenous injection of Tc-99m MIBI. Four specialists in diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine evaluated the findings of breast masses under the mammography and Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography, and calculated the tumor to background (T/B) ratio. The pathologic results were obtained and we statistically analyzed the correlations between pathologic results and imaging findings under the mammography and Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography by chi-square and correlation test. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of mammography for detection of breast cancer were 87.5%, 56.3%, 75.0%, and 75.0% respectively. 45 cases of 80 patients were suspicious for breast cancer under the Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography. 41 cases of 45 patients were confirmed as breast cancer and the remaining 4 cases were confirmed as benign masses. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography for detection of breast cancer were 85.4%, 87.5%, 91.1%, and 80.8% respectively. The sensitivity of scintimammography was lower than that of mammography for detection of breast cancer, however the specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were higher. In the benign mass, the mean T/B ratio in 10 minutes was 1.409 +/- 0.30, and that in 2 hours was 1.267 +/- 0.42. The maximal T/B ratio of benign mass in 10 minutes was 1.604 +/- 0.42, and that in 2 hours was 1.476 +/- 0.50. In the malignant mass, the mean T/B ratio in 10 minutes was 2.220 +/- 1.07, and that in 2 hours was 1.842 +/- 0.75. The maximal T/B ratio of malignant mass was 2.993 +/- 1.94, and that in 2 hours was 2.480 +/- 1.34. And the T/B ratio under the early and delayed images were meaningful. CONCLUSION: The scintimammography is useful diagnostic tool to differentiate breast cancer from benign mass, although the sensitivity of mammography for detection of breast mass is high. Especially, the use of the T/B ratio is helpful to diagnose breast cancer.