Usefulness of mammoscintigraphy with thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography to differentiate palpable breast masses of young Taiwanese women when comparing with mammography.

Sixty young Taiwanese women with palpable breast masses detected by mammography and/or physical examinations underwent mammoscintigraphy with thallium-201 (Tl-201) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to assess its value for differentiating breast masses. The results showed that 42 of the 45 cases of breast carcinoma were detected by Tl-201 SPECT mammoscintigraphy. Fourteen of the 15 of benign breast lesions were differentiated by Tl-201 SPECT mammoscintigraphy. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of Tl-201 SPECT mammoscintigraphy were 93%, 93%, 98%, 82%, and 93%, respectively. Thirty-eight of the 45 cases of breast carcinoma were detected by mammography. Twelve of the 15 of benign breast lesions were differentiated by mammography. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of mammography were 84%, 80%, 93%, 63%, and 83%, respectively. We concluded that Tl-201 SPECT mammoscintigraphy significantly improves the accuracy when comparing with mammography for the differentiating breast cancer in Taiwanese women.