Role of Bone Scintigraphy in Modification and Finalization of the Pathological Staging of Carcinoma of Breast

<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The prognosis and treatment planning of carcinoma depends upon the stage of the disease. The presence of bone metastasis affects a patient’s prognosis and further treatment planning. The purpose of this study was whether bone scintigraphy by detecting skeletal metastasis can help in patient management by modification of initial pathological staging.</p><p><strong>Patients and Methods: </strong>A total of 110 patients of breast carcinoma who were referred for the early bone scintigraphy after the surgical procedure were included in this study. Bone scintigraphy was done 3 hours after 15 m Ci Tc-99m methylelene diphosphonate (MDP) intravenous injection. Images were acquired in Siemens E-cam dual head camera. Chi-Square test was used to analyze the variables</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Out of the total 110 patients with breast carcinoma referred to the institute after initial pathological staging nearly one third i.e. 31 (28.2%) patients had skeletal metastasis. In this study it was revealed that tumour size and nodal involvement correlated well with metastasis to bone. Skeletal metastasis was significantly (p&lt;0.05) higher in tumour size belonged to &gt;3.0 – ≥5.0 cm and nodal involvement N2–N3(p&lt;0.05).  Sixty eught of the patients were in pathological stage II, among them 22.1% of the patients had skeletal metastasis. Pathological stage III was observed in 33 cases, among them 48.5% patients had skeletal metastasis and as thus staging was modified by bone scintigraphy in 22.1% in stage II and 48.5% in stage III. Pathological stage I was in 9 cases among them no metastasis was observed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Bone scintigraphy is a useful imaging modality in staging of breast carcinoma. It is recommended in patients with stage II and above and this can influence the clinical management.</p><p>Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 19(2): 107-110, July 2016</p>