Thallium-201 Scintigraphy In Evaluation Of Breast Masses

Fourty five females (20 - 67 years old) presented with breastcomplaint. After clinical examination, mammography and thallium-20 1scintigraphy were performed. All cases were inspected pathologically toconfirm the findings of both techniques. The results revealed thatthallium-20l scintigraphy can reliably detect primary tumours of thebreast with a high degree of sensitivity in Group (A) which included 35patients with no prior history of breast cancer. As 21 patients were foundto have malignant breast lesions pathologically, the scintigraphictechnique revealed only two false-negative cases out of them.(Sensitivity 90.4 0/0, Specificity 85.7% and Accuracy 94.3 % ).Moreover, it was obvious from the results that thallium-20 1scintigraphy is valuable in differentiation of malignant from benignbreast lesions especially in dense breasts. Thallium-20 1 scans of 14patients from Group (A) examined were true negative exhibiting noabnormal uptake of thallium in the breast in conjunction with benignbiopsy results. ( Specificity 100% and Accuracy 1000/0 ).