Radiopharmaceuticals for SPECT Cancer Detection

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the efficacy of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with {199}Tl and {99m}Tc-MIBI in the detection of breast, laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers. Materials and Methods: a total of 220 patients were included into the study. Of them, there were 120 patients with breast lesions (100 patients with breast cancer and 20 patients with benign breast tumors) and 100 patients with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal diseases (80 patients with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer and 20 patients with benign laryngeal/hypopharyngeal lesions). Results: no abnormal {199}Tl uptake was seen in all patients with benign breast and laryngeal lesions, indicating a 100% specificity of {199}Tl SPECT. In breast cancer patients, increased {199}Tl uptake in the breast was visualized in 94.8% patients, {99m}Tc-MIBI in 93.4% patients. Increased {199}Tl uptake in axillary lymph nodes was detected in 60% patients and {99m}Tc-MIBI in 93.1% patients. In patients with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer, sensitivity of SPECT with {199}Tl and {99m}Tc-MIBI were 95%. The {199}Tl SPECT sensitivity in identification of regional lymph node metastases in patients with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer was 75% and the{99m}Tc-MIBI SPECT sensitivity was 17%. Conclusion: the data obtained show that SPECT with {199}Tl and {99m}Tc-MIBI can be used as one of the additional imaging methods in detection of tumors.