Nuclear Medicine News & Stories

For nuclear medicine clinicians and researchers at Switzerland’s Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, being the first site to install Biograph Vision Quadra™ marked the conclusion of a process that began when their team crossed the Atlantic to consult with Siemens Healthineers as they designed the next-generation whole-body PET/CT scanner.

SPECT/CT is the most common nuclear medicine imaging modality used to visualize blood circulation in the heart; however, in an increasing number of locations, facilities are switching to PET/CT. The Northwest Clinics in the Netherlands has been one of the region’s pioneers in deploying cardiac PET/CT on a large-scale clinical basis.

Scientists and physicians from Siemens Healthineers describe the motivations and innovations behind the development of a PET/CT scanner that combines the best of both worlds: an extended axial field of view (FoV) with industry-leading detector technology.

In pediatrics, young patients may not be able to communicate the exact location and intensity of the pain they’re experiencing. Nuclear medicine physicians are learning how to share visual findings from SPECT/CT with referring orthopedic surgeons, resulting in improved collaboration and outcomes.

The convergence of nuclear medicine and musculoskeletal medicine has many benefits, particularly in orthopedic surgery. The capabilities of SPECT/CT technology, combined with advanced reconstruction and reading solutions, allow for accurate localization of pain origins that support diagnostic confidence and surgical accuracy.

Image of the Year and Paper of the Year are two of SNMMI’s most prestigious awards, granted to researchers who demonstrate promising advances in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. The awards, as well as the latest developments in research and technology, were showcased at this year’s reimagined virtual 2020 conference.

SNMMI recognizes the team who worked to modify resources for nuclear medicine technology students during the pandemic.

Given the ever-changing healthcare landscape—one that is now even more fluid and volatile since the arrival of SARS-CoV-2—education and collaboration between nuclear medicine professionals and their colleagues are key to expanding and optimizing nuclear medicine’s utilization.

The treatment of musculoskeletal pain is a precise practice that requires accurate localization of possible pain generators. Given SPECT/CT's intrinsic anatomical and physiological imaging properties, it is an ideal choice in helping musculoskeletal medicine practitioners locate pain origins and develop effective treatment plans.

Gallium-68 and fluorine-18-labeled PSMA ligands, imaged using PET/CT, are set to become a useful tool for primary staging and recurrence diagnosis in prostate cancer.

SPECT/CT imaging is a ubiquitous tool that aides clinicians in making prompt diagnoses and developing personalized treatment strategies. With the addition of an automated tool that consistently produces reliable, quantitative measurements, providers explain how they are able to integrate quantification into their routine SPECT/CT protocols.

Our new column “Point of View” picks up trends and developments in healthcare. In this edition, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Marcus Hacker comments on the potential of AI in molecular imaging.