Nuclear medicine techniques play an important role in breast cancer management, including scintimammography to detect malignant breast lesions, sentinel lymph node detection to determine the extent of surgery and staging, and bone scans to detect metastases for staging or treatment response. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) and radionuclide therapies may also be used in select cases to detect cancer or palliate bone pain from widespread metastases.

2. NUCLEAR MEDICINE inNUCLEAR MEDICINE in
BREAST CANCERBREAST CANCER

3. NM in Breast CANM in Breast CA
Scinti-mammography
Sentinal Lymph Node Detection
Bone Scan
Pet-CT
Radio-nuclide therapies

4. Scinti-mammographyScinti-mammography
 Tc-99m labelled MIBI
Screening role
Reserved for equivocal category of breast
lumps on digital mammography
High sensitivity for detecting malignant
breast lesions

5. Sentinal Lymph Node DetectionSentinal Lymph Node Detection
First node in chain of lymphatic drainage
Very important in decision of extent of
surgery, initial staging, future radiation
therapy planning, outcome estimation.
Radioactive material is injected per-op
and sentinal lymph node is marked by
gamma probe
More sensitive than routine dye tests

6. Bone ScanBone Scan
Initial staging
Re-staging
Treatment response
Detection of critical lesions for palliative
radiotherapy

7. PET ScanPET Scan
Limited use in CA Breast
Utilized in few selective cases
Trials are on for more utility

8. Radio-nuclide TherapiesRadio-nuclide Therapies
Usual bone metastasis of CA breast are
osteoblastic
Wide spread skeletal metastasis,
radionuclide therapy can be offered for
bone pain palliation
Radioactive Strontium and phosphorus
are in common use