Nuclear medicine is very helpful in diagnosing breast cancer. Nuclear medicine breast imaging is commonly referred to as Scintimammography. In this method, the patient will be inserted with radioactive dye, which will react differently to normal tissues and cancer tissues. This article narrates the relationship between Nuclear medicine and breast cancer.

Scintimammography is far better than mammography or ultrasound, since it can diagnose multiple tumors. Likewise, mammography can help in detecting cancer growth in one particular area only.

The current radioisotope recognized by Food and Drug Administration for detecting breast cancer growth is technetium -99. This will be inserted in patient's vein through intravenous needle.

Generally, women who have any abnormalities in breast should go for this scan. Women who have dense breast tissues also require nuclear medicine scanning. Women whose breast is removed due to cancer growth require scanning to detect for any further growth.

A research shows that scintimammography is successful in diagnosing large abnormalities in the breast. But for small abnormalities, it is successful in only 40 to 60% of the cases.

Nuclear medicine imaging is sometimes treated with sentinel lymph node biopsy to detect whether the lymph nodes have cancer growth.

How to perform nuclear medicine imaging tests for detecting breast cancer?

Performing nuclear medicine imaging tests for detecting breast cancer requires a lengthy procedure. The gamma camera will be fixed above the table. The patient should wear comfortable clothes without any metal. Then the specialist will insert technetium-99 into the vein. The dye will be absorbed by normal tissues in small quantity and in larger amount by cancer tissues. The reactions will be taken as images by gamma camera. The gamma camera will capture the images of patient's breast in different angles in order to detect multiple tumors.

In fact, nuclear medicine will help in predicting breast cancer also. Therefore, it helps in fighting and preventing the disease. The fast and accurate images shown by nuclear medicine will allow the doctor to start the treatment immediately. It is safe for patients with allergic reactions also. It is however time consuming. However, new technologies are being invented to reduce the time taken by this method.

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