Molecular Imaging Approaches for Supplemental Screening in Women at Increased Breast Cancer Risk.

Mammography is an effective screening method that reduces breast cancer mortality (1). However, mammography is not a perfect test and its sensitivity is diminished in women with dense breast tissue (2). For women at increased breast cancer risk, the use of imaging modalities in addition to mammography, termed supplemental screening, can improve the overall cancer detection rate. Current guidelines recommend MRI for supplemental screening in women with greater than 20% lifetime risk of breast cancer (3). For women who cannot tolerate MRI, have mammographically dense breast tissue, or have an intermediate lifetime risk of breast cancer, screening ultrasound can be considered (3). However, these techniques have some drawbacks, which have fueled interest in alternative functional imaging–based methods for supplemental screening in high-risk women. In this issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Brem et al. investigate the diagnostic performance of a molecular imaging approach for supplemental breast cancer screening (4).