Scintigraphy Predicts Response to Breast Cancer Chemotherapy

A study has shown that scintigraphic imaging can predict which breast cancer patients will respond to therapy and which will not respond. The findings were reported in the June 2002 issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The study involved 30 patients with locally advanced breast cancer for whom a cycle of chemotherapy followed by surgery was planned. All patients received an injection of the radioisotope 99mTc-sestamibi and were scanned before treatment and again before surgery. Those patients likely to respond had a low wash-out rate of the imaging agent, meaning a higher amount remained in the body after injection and showed up in the scan. Those patients unlikely to respond had a higher wash-out rate, with less of the agent showing up in the scan.

Results of the first test were analyzed to determine the amount of radiotracer uptake in the tumor at 10 minutes and at 240 minutes, and the wash-out rate was calculated. The second scan was used diagnostically to confirm tumor response to treatment. The results showed that scintigraphy was able to predict 100% of the patients who responded to chemotherapy and 83% of the patients who did not respond. The study was conducted by researchers from the Regina Elena Cancer Institute (Rome, Italy).