[Correlation in imaging techniques for the early detection of bone metastases in a case of breast cancer].

The presented case is part of a pilot study performed in the Biophysics and Nuclear Medicine Service from the Tenon Hospital (Paris), chief Department Prof. J.N. Talbot. A 46 years patient, with mastectomy for a left breast cancer in 1999, followed by radiotherapy, is detected, in January 2004, through CT scan, with a tumoral mass at the left thoracic base. To confirm the rib osteolysis hypothesis a standard Rx was done; the result was the detection of a pathologic IX left rib fracture and a lacuna site on the L1 vertebra. The following bone scintigraphy make evidence of two hot spots (rib and vertebra) and also of a new pathologic site on the sternum. An 18FFDG PET image detects, despite the three known sites, another one on the left iliac bone crest. In conclusion, an extensive scintigraphic examination, including PET, is necessary to optimize the osteofil cancer metastases detection.