Nuclear medicine in oncology 1: Lymphoma, and cancer of the lung, colon, and oesophagus

Nuclear medicine provides an opportunity to image pathophysiology, while radiology mainly shows morphology. Over the last few decades hybrid imaging modalities have been developed in which nuclear medicine instrumentation has been combined with computed tomography (CT) and, more recently, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This allows the clinician to combine the imaging of pathophysiology with the anatomical localisation of such lesions. Conventional nuclear medicine imaging can be performed using various radiopharmaceuticals, mainly labelled with technetium-99m (Tc-99m), e.g. Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) for skeletal scanning. In past decades, positron emission tomography combined with CT (PET/CT) has been used routinely for the assessment of solid tumours, including lymphomas, and lung and colorectal cancers.1 , 2 The most frequently used PET radiopharmaceutical is fluorine-18 (F-18) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), which reflects cellular glucose metabolism. (author)