Nuclear medicine in cancer diagnosis

Nuclear medicine imaging has contributed significantly to diagnosis, treatm ent planning, and the evaluation of response to treatment in patients with cancer since the development of modern techniques in the 1970s, Diagnostic applications such as the bone scan continue to be the most common use in on cology because of their high sensitivity but the contribution of nuclear me dicine to oncology can perhaps be best understood in the context of patient management, Staging of newly presenting cancer patients and restaging for treatment planning are reviewed here. For treatment response and disease re currence nuclear medicine provides information non-invasively. The studies can be repeated with few side-effects and with low radiation absorbed doses , Results can be directly correlated with clinical laboratory data, The goa ls of biologically characterising an individual patient's tumour and predic ting his or her response to treatment are within reach.