The role of radioisotope imaging techniques in the breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer is the most common oncological disease among women worldwide characterized by a high mortality rate despite the dynamic development of diagnosis and therapy. The oncologic therapy effectiveness depends strongly on early detection and precise staging of the breast cancer. Among the available methods of imaging, one of the most useful seems to be Nuclear Medicine scanning, mainly: positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) using the using the radiopharmaceutical fluorine-18F-fluorodeoxyglucose - a glucose analogue labeled with the fluorine-18 isotope (2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose, 18F-FDG). So called radioisotope imaging ensures the anatomic and metabolic diagnostic imaging, helpful in the breast cancer staging and restating. Nevertheless, this is just an example among the available and useful in the evaluation of breast cancer techniques or radiopharmaceuticals, which are increasing in number and availability due to the significant development of the nuclear medicine field in recent years.