Imaging studies for the diagnosis of breast cancer such as ultrasonography or mammography, play an essential role; however, it is well known that they have some limitations; the low specificity of ultrasonography and the low sensitivity of mammography, especially in the dense breasts of Korean women. Recently, ^99mTc-MIBI scintimammography was introduced for the detection of breast cancer, and showed acceptable results in its diagnostic accuracy. In this study, the clinical usefulness of ^99mTc-MIBI scintimammography was evaluated for the determination of a better imaging study for the diagnosis of breast cancer.

This study included 75 patients with breast masses, and 3 imaging studies were performed; mammography, ultrasonography and ^99mTc-MIBI scintimammography and the results compared on the basis of the pathological reports from core needle or excisional biopsies of the patients.

From the pathological reports of 75 patients, 45 cases were confirmed as malignant and 30 as benign diseases. Based on the pathological reports, the sensitivities of mammography, ultrasonography and ^99mTc-MIBI scintimammiography were 62.2, 88.9, and 86.7%, and the specificites of 3 imaging studies were 90.0, 76.7, and 90.3% respectively. The positive predictive values were 90.3, 85.1, and 92.9% and the negative predictive values were 61.4, 82.1, and 81.8%, respectively. ^99mTc-MIBI mammoscintigraphy showed a comparable sensitivity to ultrasonography, and a similar specificity to mammography, in the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Clinically, as a primary imaging tool, ^99mTc-MIBI mammoscintigraphy showed acceptable results in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Considering the weak points of ultrasonography and mammography, ^99mTc-MIBI mammoscintigraphy would be a very useful tool in the diagnosis of breast cancer.