Iodine-125 (125I) seeds can be used as landmarks to locate non-palpable breast lesions instead of implanting metal wires. This relatively new technique requires a nuclear probe usually used for technetium-99m (99mTc) sentinel node detection. This study aimed to compare the performances of different probes and valid the feasibility of this technique, especially in the case of simultaneous 125I-seed and 99mTc breast cancer surgery. Three probes with different features (SOE-3211, SOE-3214 and GammaSUP-II) were characterised according to the NEMA NU3-2004 standards for a 99mTc source and a 125I-seed. Several tests such as sensitivity, linearity or spatial resolution allowed an objective comparison of their performances. NEMA testing was extended to work on signals discrimination in case of simultaneous detection of two different sources (innovative figure of merit “Shift Index”) and to assess the 99mTc scatter fraction, a useful parameter for the improvement of the probes in terms of detector materials and electronic system. Although the GammaSUP-II probe saturated at a lower activity (1.6 MBq at 10 mm depth), it allowed better sensitivity and spatial resolution at the different NEMA tests performed with the 99mTc source (7865 cps/MBq and 15 mm FWHM at 10 mm depth). With the 125I-seed, the GammaSUP-II was the most sensitive probe (3106 cps/MBq at 10 mm depth) and the SOE-3211 probe had the best spatial resolution (FWHM 20 mm at 10 mm depth). The SOE-3214 probe was more efficient on discriminating 125I from 99mTc in case of simultaneous detection. The SOE probes were more efficient concerning 99mTc scatter fraction assessments. The SOE-3211 probe, with overall polyvalent performances, seemed to be an interesting trade-off for detection of both 125I and 99mTc. The three probes showed heterogeneous performances but were all suitable for simultaneous 99mTc sentinel node and 125I-seed detection. This study provides an objective and innovative methodology to compare probes performances and then choose the best trade-off regarding their expected use.

中文翻译：

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碘125种子和tech 99m乳腺癌同时手术的3种γ探针的比较：具有扩展处理能力的NEMA标准表征。

碘125（125I）种子可以用作地标，以定位不可触及的乳腺病变，而不用植入金属丝。这种相对较新的技术需要通常用于tech 99m（99mTc）前哨节点检测的核探针。这项研究旨在比较不同探针的性能，并验证该技术的可行性，特别是在同时进行125I种子和99mTc乳腺癌手术的情况下。根据NEMA NU3-2004标准，针对99mTc源和125I种子，对三种具有不同特征的探针（SOE-3211，SOE-3214和GammaSUP-II）进行了表征。诸如灵敏度，线性或空间分辨率等多项测试可以对其性能进行客观比较。NEMA测试扩展到在同时检测两种不同来源（创新品质因数“位移指数”）的情况下进行信号辨别的工作，并评估了99mTc散射分数，这对于改进探测器材料方面是一个有用的参数和电子系统。尽管GammaSUP-II探针的活性较低（10 mm深度时为1.6 MBq），但在使用99mTc离子源（7865 cps / MBq和10 mm深度时为15 mm FWHM）进行的不同NEMA测试中，它仍具有更高的灵敏度和空间分辨率）。使用125I种子时，GammaSUP-II是最敏感的探针（深度为10 mm时为3106 cps / MBq），而SOE-3211探针具有最佳的空间分辨率（深度为10 mm时为FWHM 20 mm）。在同时检测的情况下，SOE-3214探针在区分99mTc中的125I时更有效。对于99mTc散射分数评估，SOE探针效率更高。具有整体多价性能的SOE-3211探针似乎是检测125I和99mTc的有趣折衷方案。这三种探针表现出不同的性能，但均适用于同时进行99mTc前哨淋巴结和125I种子检测。这项研究提供了一种客观创新的方法，可以比较探针的性能，然后根据预期用途选择最佳折衷方案。