Breast cancer cellular proliferation indexes and 99mTc-sesta Mibi capture: what correlation?

Aim of this study was to verify existing correlations between breast cancer 99mTc-sestaMIBI cells uptake and their cytological characteristics. Forty-five patients with clinically and/or mammographically suspect breast cancer were enrolled. In all patients 99mTc-sestaMIBI scintimammography was performed and malignant lesions were detected in 44 cases and benign in one case. In positive uptake (PU) lesions with diameter <1.5cm, 85.7% showed a high tumor grade (II-III degrees) while in negative uptake (NU) lesions with diameter <1.5cm, 100% showed a low tumor grade (I degrees). In PU lesions, 70% had expressed a high value of Ki 67, while 100% of the NU lesions showed normal values. In this series, tumor diameter does not play a basic role, while the correlations between uptake and the histological grade (G) and/or cellular kinetics (Ki67) seem to be more important. Further studies are needed to confirm our present results.