Nuclear Diagnosis of Disseminated Cancer of the Breast: Results of Liver-, Brain-, and Tumor-directed Imaging Studies

Radionuclide imaging technics to identify metastases in liver and brain have predictive values that show the expected variation depending upon the prevalence of metastatic disease in the population studied. Liver scanning combined with peritoneoscopy may prove more accurate than either study alone for routine use in staging. Brain scanning is most useful when reserved for patients selected because of suspicious neurologic findings or in following the response to therapy of established metastatic disease. ''Tumor-directed'' scanning agents are useful in certain cases where soft-tissue metastases are suspected but cannot be identified with more conventional procedures.