Table 4 Methods, results, advantages and potential limitations of reported previous studies to evaluate metastasis involvement in breast cancer and the present study
Reference First author, year | Methods | Positive samples for metastatic breast cancer | Samples with adequate number of tumor cells for receptor analysis | Potential limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
J. F. Hilton, 2011 [14] | CT-guided bone biopsy | 21/39(52.5%) | 19/39(48.8%) | Cannot confirm the location for tumors at the early stage |
Wei Guo,2018 [6] | PET/CT guided biopsy | 46/54(85.2%) | 23/46(50%) | More expensive and less equipment |
This study | SPECT/CT guided bone biopsy | 34/39(69%) | 34/34(100%) | 99mTc-MDP is not a specific tracer for metastatic disease |