• Society of Nuclear Medicine. Procedure guideline for breast scintigraphy. Version 2.0. Reston (VA): Society of Nuclear Medicine; 2004 Jun 2. 4 p.

This is the current release of the guideline.

This guideline updates a previous version: Procedure guideline for breast scintigraphy, 1.0. J Nucl Med 1999 Jul;40(7):1233-5.

Breast cancer

Diagnosis
Evaluation

Nuclear Medicine
Radiology

Allied Health Personnel
Physicians

To assist nuclear medicine practitioners in recommending, performing, interpreting, and reporting the results of ^99mTc-sestamibi breast scintigraphy (mammoscintigraphy, scintimammography)

Women with suspected or documented breast cancer

^99mTc-sestamibi breast scintigraphy (mammoscintigraphy, scintimammography)

Not stated

Hand-searches of Published Literature (Primary Sources)
Hand-searches of Published Literature (Secondary Sources)
Searches of Electronic Databases

Literature searches were performed. In addition, references known to experts and references from the nuclear medicine community were considered.

Not stated

Not stated

Not applicable

Review

Not stated

Expert Consensus

Drafts of the guideline were submitted to members of the Guideline Development subcommittee (methodologists) and the Task Force (subject experts). These reviewers indicated on a line-by-line basis any suggestions or recommendations for the revision of the guideline. The percentage of agreement for all reviewers was calculated for each revision and compiled by the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) central office. It is expected that the percentage of agreement will increase with each revision.

Not applicable

A formal cost analysis was not performed and published cost analyses were not reviewed.

Internal Peer Review

When the Task Force and Guideline Development Subcommittee completed their edits, draft procedure guidelines were distributed to the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) Sample Review Group for comment. (The SNM Sample Review Group is a cross-section of approximately 100 nuclear medicine practitioners representing every field of specialization).

The guideline was approved by the SNM Commission on Health Care Policy, the Board of Directors, and the House of Delegates.

The update was approved June 2, 2004

Background Information and Definitions

Breast scintigraphy is performed after intravenous administration of ^99mTc-sestamibi and includes planar and/or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Examples of Clinical or Research Applications

1. Evaluate breast cancer in patients in whom mammography is nondiagnostic, equivocal, or difficult to interpret (e.g., the presence of scar tissue, mammographically dense breast tissue, implants, or severe dysplastic disease)
2. Assist in identifying multicentric and multifocal carcinomas in patients with tissue diagnosis of breast cancer
3. May be useful in the evaluation of the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast carcinoma

Procedure

The detailed procedure recommendations in the guideline address the following areas: patient preparation; information pertinent to performing the procedure (i.e., important data that the physician should have about the patient at the time the exam is performed and interpreted); precautions; information regarding the radiopharmaceutical (i.e., ranges of administered activity, organ receiving the largest radiation dose, effective dose), image acquisition; interventions; processing; interpretation/reporting; quality control, and sources of error.

None provided

The type of evidence supporting the recommendations is not specifically stated.

The intent of the procedure guideline is to describe breast scintigraphy, in order to maximize the diagnostic information obtained in the study while minimizing the resources that are expended.

Not stated

An implementation strategy was not provided.

Living with Illness
Staying Healthy

Effectiveness

• Society of Nuclear Medicine. Procedure guideline for breast scintigraphy. Version 2.0. Reston (VA): Society of Nuclear Medicine; 2004 Jun 2. 4 p.

Not applicable: The guideline was not adapted from another source.

1999 Jul (revised 2004 Jun 2)

Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc - Medical Specialty Society

Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM)

Task Force

Authors: Iraj Khalkhali, MD (Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA); Gina Caravaglia, MD (Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA); Hani H. Abdel-Nabi, MD, PhD (University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY); Patrick J. Peller, MD (Woodburn Nuclear Medicine, Annandale, VA); Raymond Taillefer, MD (Hospital Hotel-Dieu de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada); Penny R. Vande Streek, DO (Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Roseville, CA); Christophe Van de Wiele, MD (Universitair Ziekenhuis, Ghent, Belgium)

Not stated

This is the current release of the guideline.

This guideline updates a previous version: Procedure guideline for breast scintigraphy, 1.0. J Nucl Med 1999 Jul;40(7):1233-5.

None available

This summary was completed by ECRI on July 20, 1999. It was verified by the guideline developer as of August 5, 1999. This NGC summary was updated by ECRI on April 28, 2005. The updated information was verified by the guideline developer on June 30, 2005.

This NGC summary is based on the original guideline, which is subject to the guideline developer's copyright restrictions.