[The diagnostic significance of 99mTc-marked phosphate uptake in the soft tissues of the breast (author's transl)].

A patient with a right-sided carcinoma of the breast had a bone scintigram with 99mTc-methylendiphosphonate (99mTc-MDP), which showed intensive uptake in the abnormal breast; a year after mastectomy, similar high uptake of the drug was found in the remaining breast. The radiological findings indicated a fibrocystic mastopathy without evidence of malignancy in the left breast. A review of the literature suggested that uptake of osteotropic polyphosphate compounds in the breast was of considerable significance, indicating incipient or developing malignancy. A review of our own cases cast considerable doubt on this interpretation. It is probable that MDP uptake in the breast depends in part on the hormonal pattern and may occasionally be observed during oestrogen therapy in the male (eg. carcinoma of the prostate).