Nuclear medicine techniques in breast imaging

Progress has been made in anatomic imaging with mammography, ultrasound, and MRI, but the noninvasive differentiation of malignant from benign breast masses is an unmet goal. Most breast biopsies still are performed in patients with benign disease. Improved nuclear medicine imaging devices, better radiopharmaceutical agents, and new methods of guiding biopsies and surgery are being developed, signaling a growing role for nuclear medicine techniques. The use of dual-photon positron emission tomography and single- photon imaging are discussed as a means of imaging both primary and regionally metastatic breast cancers.