Radionuclide breast scanning in carcinoma of the breast

Findings show that ⁹⁹Tc(m) diphosphonate and ⁹⁹Tc(m) polyphosphate both concentrate in tumors of the breast. In this series a positive breast scan was obtained in 82% of the patients with histologically proven carcinoma. Although 36% of patients with nonneoplastic lesions demonstrated positive scans, no normal patients had a positive scan. The study shows that the scan is fairly sensitive in demonstrating an underlying disorder of the breast, however, it is not sufficiently specific to allow differentiation of benign from malignant lesions. Although the study alone may be of limited value in detecting carcinoma of the breast, a positive or negative breast scan may be useful in conjunction with other tests.