TL-201 Scanning and in Differentiating Malignant from Benign Masses of Breast

Physical examination and mammography are currently the only proven and reliable methods of early detection of breast cancer. Although, both procedures are highly sensitive, their limited specificity often requires surgical biopsy in order to differentiate between malignant and benign lesions.Palpable mass abnormalities of breast are often difficult to evaluate mammographically, especially in patients with fib- rocystic changes and dense breasts. The current study evaluates TL-201 as a potential test m detecting malignancy and in differentiating malignant from benign masses. In this study 15 females and I male with breast masses were evaluated by TL-201 scanning. Six patients had malignant masses (in one patient the malignant involvement was hilaterally).Remainder of patients had benign abnonnalities. In all 7 malignant breast tumors accumulation of TL-201 were seen which implied  100 % of sensitivity. In remainder 25 breasts (with benign disease and no disease) abnormal uptake of TL-201 was seen just in one breast with mastitis. Therefore the specificity of this study was 96 % . However the number of cases in this study was not high,but indicated the values of TL-201 scintigrapby in differentiating malignant from benign breast masses.