Positron emission tomography (PET) in diagnosing breast cancer

Positron emission tomography (PET) offers new opportunities in the non-invasive diagnosis and therapy monitoring of breast cancer. So far, PET with the glucose analogue fluorodeoxyglucose is investigated best, especially in diagnosing the primary tumour and in staging axillary lymph nodes. The validity of the method in staging distant metastases and monitoring therapy is also being investigated. At the moment, few data is available on PET with C-11-methionin as well as on PET with more specific radiopharmaceuticals like I-124-labelled monoclonal antibodies and F-ls-labelled estrogen receptor ligands. This short review presents the state of the art of PET in the diagnostics and therapy monitoring of breast cancer.