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ATLANTA—A novel cardiac PET tracer that images the sympathetic nervous system for heart failure prognosis has been shown in preclinical studies to provide improved image quality compared with a SPECT heart failure tracer, according to a poster presentation on display Monday at the American College of Cardiology conference.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to create a reliable U.S. supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) without the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to overcome the isotope shortage.
The use of FDG-PET/CT on patients with obstructive Crohn’s disease can provide physicians with information about whether surgical or medical therapy is the preferred treatment option, according to a study in the November issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Seven medical imaging societies have written a joint letter asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide coverage for two FDG PET scans for initial patient treatment evaluation, as opposed to the one scan CMS now covers.
SNM (formerly the Society of Nuclear Medicine) conducted a survey of nuclear pharmacies and discovered that 60 percent of the facilities were impacted by a shortage of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99).
PET is an important tool for depicting the extent of neuroblastoma in some pediatric patients, particularly for those in the early stages of the disease, according to study published in the August issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Reps. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, and Fred Upton, R-Mich., the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, have introduced the American Medical Isotopes Production Act, which seeks to ensure that a reliable supply of critical medical isotopes are produced in the United States.
Immunomedics, a biopharmaceutical developer of monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other diseases, announced that it has received U.S. patent 7,563,433--covering methods and compositions for fluorine-18 (F-18) labeling of proteins, peptides and other molecules.
SNM (formerly the Society of Nuclear Medicine) has awarded approximately $245,000 in research grants through its Education and Research Foundation.
In response to the recurring global medical isotope crisis, SNM has issued a call-to-action plan highlighting its commitment to finding a solution to eliminate future molybydenum-99 (Mo-99) supply disruptions.
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A study and an accompanying editorial published in the January issue of Journal of Nuclear Medicine suggests that essential elements were missing from many oncologic PET reports and these deficiencies may render reports less helpful to referring physicians and also lead to misdiagnoses as well as cause coding and billing errors.
Written by Manjula Puthenedam
The determination made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the reimbursement for NaF-18 (sodium fluoride-18) PET imaging to identify bone metastasis of cancer is "progress," said Robert W. Atcher, PhD, immediate past-president of SNM (formerly the Society of Nuclear Medicine), in an interview.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed HR 3276—the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009—by a roll call vote of 400-17. The legislation will help to fund projects for producing the medical isotope molybdenum-99 within the United States.
A first-of-its-kind master's degree program is now being offered at three universities to provide nuclear medicine professionals with another career pathway for advancement in the field.
FDG-PET, when combined with CT, is far more effective in its capability to stage colorectal liver metastases than CT alone, according to a randomized controlled trial published in this month's Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
The American College of Radiology, SNM and a coalition of seven other organizations are urging Congress to take steps to maintain adequate supplies of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99).
Three European providers of PET radiopharmaceuticals--Advanced Accelerator Applications, Erigal Limited and IBA Molecular--have registered their manufacturing sites with SNM's Clinical Trials Network.
PetNet Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Healthcare, has become a registered supplier of investigational F-18 fluorothymidine (F-18 FLT) to the Society of Nuclear Medicine's (SNM) Clinical Trial network.
PET scans in mice can be used to determine whether a novel type of breast cancer treatment is working as intended, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
A study presented Monday at the 2009 SNM meeting in Toronto demonstrated that combining high-definition PET and motion-frozen technologies delivers exceptional image quality and can significantly change the diagnosis of patients with heart disease.
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The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
During the Health IT Standards Committee meeting on Feb. 24 in Washington, D.C., the Clinical Operations Workgroup sought to gather comments on proposed recommendations on implementation specifications for content exchange, vocabulary and code set standards for the Interim Final Rule of meaningful use.
In 2006, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), a branch of the FDA, began examining the number of medical device reports they received. Over the past two years, the number of submitted reports has increased, sparking a demand for the CDRH to make a move to electronic reporting.
A new hospital breaking ground usually isn’t breaking news. But the vision of patient care at one new facility, tentatively named Palomar Medical Center West (PMC West), is currently illegal under California state law.