[Present status and progress of endocrine nuclear medicine]

The author reviewed present status and progress of endocrine nuclear medicine including thyroid, parathyroid, adrenocortical, adrenomedullary and somatostatin receptor imaging and also radionuclide therapy of Basedow's disease, metastatic foci of post-operative thyroid cancer and malignant neural crest tumor. Relatively new imaging agents include 99mTc-MIBI and 99mTc-tetrofosmin for parathyroid imaging and 111In-pentetreotide for somatostatin receptor imaging. It is hoped that therapy of malignant neural crest tumors such as metastatic pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma with 131I-MIBG and somatostatin receptor imaging will be available in Japan as soon as possible.