99Tc(m)-tetrofosmin scintimammography for detecting breast cancer: a comparative study with 99Tc(m)-MIBI

Scintimammography using 99Tc(m)-MIBI (99Tc(m)-sestamibi) has demonstrated promising results in the detection of breast cancer. Recently scintimammography using 99Tc(m)-tetrofosmin has been suggested as a better diagnostic tool and a more convenient agent to use in this condition. In this study we compared both agents in 35 consecutive women with abnormal mammographic or physical findings. Thirty-four of them underwent MIBI scan, followed by tetrofosmin scan 2 days later (performed on all 35 women). Within 2 weeks, a pathological diagnosis was obtained either by needle or open biopsy. In both scans the uptake ratio between the lesion and the background uptake was calculated. Twenty patients who underwent tetrofosmin scan and 19 patients with MIBI scan had malignant breast tumours, while 15 women had benign lesions. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and total accuracy of the MIBI scan were 89.4%, 80%, 85%, 85.7% and 85.3%, respectively; almost identical values were obtained with tetrofosmin (90%, 80%, 85.6%, 85.7% and 85.7%, respectively). The uptake ratios in the MIBI and tetrofosmin scans were 1.68 +/- 0.52 and 1.7 +/- 0.47, respectively. No differences were found between the two scintimammographies in all the parameters examined. In conclusion, MIBI and tetrofosmin breast scans are accurate and equally efficient for the detection of breast malignancies.