Scintimammography is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that offers new hope.The Director and Chief of Nuclear Medicine, Utkal Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneshwar, Birendra K Das has said scintimammography – a nuclear medicine imaging instrument – is a powerful method in the diagnosis of the breast cancer. In this procedure, manipulation of breasts such as compression required to be done during conventional mammography is not needed.
In an interview to Newsline, Das said scintimammography was a new imaging method, in which a radiopharmaceutical (Tc-99mm-sestamibi) is administrated intravenously and images of the breast are taken using a gamma camera giving immediate results.
“Several multi centric studies with blinded image interpretation have established the sensitivity and specificity of Scintimammography to be above 85 and 90 percent respectively as compared to 89 and 14 percent for X-ray mammograms,” he said.
The Director who has been doing the highest number of Scintimammography in his institute in the country said that there are many techniques to detect the breast cancer and the most common being X-ray mammography which has been used for decades for early detection of breast cancer.
“But unfortunately the X-ray mammography has very poor specificity. The patients are asked further to undertake biopsy and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) for the detection . Other modalities like Sonography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) are also being used for the diagnosis,” the director said.
Das explained that though MRI is little better than X-ray mammography, but it is very cumbersome process and expensive. “PET is very good but it is also expensive and is not available in every hospital.
PET is only available in the metropolitans and very few other cities. And then we have Scintimammography, which is simple, cost effective with very high specificity.
The patient need not undergo any other test for the detection of cancer,” he said. “The increased specificity and accuracy of the method may also lead to less frequency of biopsy or FNAC.”
“Scintimammography is the most promising among the newer modalities to be used in breast cancer,” he said, adding that patients suspected breast cancer many be benefited by this non-invasive, simple and painless imaging procedure. Das, however, expressed his surprise that very few doctors were taking advantage of Scintimammography.
The incidence of breast cancer has shown a steady increase and now it occupies the first place as the cause of cancer death in women particularly in the urban women in India and other developing countries of the world.
The Indian Express