Diagnosis of malignant breast disease by axillary lymphoscintigraphy: a preliminary report.

The ability of regional lymph nodes to take up 99Tcm-labelled antimony sulphide colloid from the breast tissue was studied in 50 patients with mammary symptoms by gamma-camera scanning. Thirteen out of 14 patients with histologically confirmed carcinoma of the breast had a depressed uptake of labelled colloid in ipsilateral nodes, i.e. a positive scan. Twenty-nine out of 32 patients with benign breast disease had a negative scan. The method promises to aid both the precise diagnosis of breast disease and the definition of the extent of mammary cancer.