Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) annual meeting in Chicago wrapped up on Tuesday, and we were there throughout the meeting to report on the latest research. With experts debating the role of AI in the field in one session, we've highlighted a presentation that speaks to the potential of the technology. You can read it here in this edition's Insider Exclusive.
In an interview with AuntMinnie.com, immediate past-president Munir Ghesani, MD, said it was no fluke that theranostics appeared to dominate the meeting. This emerging approach brings to the field a renewed focus on patient care, he said, as it combines both imaging and therapy.
In other interviews, we spoke with Julie Sutcliffe, PhD, of the University of California, Davis, whose team won the 2023 Image of the Year out of more than 1,500 submissions. Sutcliffe and colleagues focused on a new theranostics pair for use in patients with pancreatic cancer; and we caught up with Ka Kit Wong, MD, of the University of Michigan, who discussed a promising new PET tracer for patients with adrenal gland tumors.
Below are a few other exciting stories we wrote on research presented at the meeting:
- F-18 fluoroestradiol PET imaging is on the cutting edge of developing new therapies for breast cancer, said David Mankoff, MD, PhD, in the society's annual Henry M. Wagner lecture.
- PET/MRI has shown that neuroreceptors in the brains of people with obesity appear to respond differently to food cues than those who are not obese, according to a group in Germany.
- Steven Liang, PhD, from Emory University in Atlanta, discussed his group's work on a new tracer they have named F-18 Cholestify, which has shown promise visualizing enzymes tied to metabolic cholesterol degradation in the brain.
- A team led by Andrew Nguyen, MBBS, of St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, found that monitoring patient response on SPECT/CT during lutetium-177 prostate-specific membrane antigen therapy improves outcomes.
In other news from the meeting, we noted that SNMMI released its slate of officers for the 2023-2024 term, with Helen Nadel, MD, as president, while Nizar Mullani received the Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award and Henry VanBrocklin, PhD, received the Paul C. Aebersold Award.
Finally, 'tis the season for meetings! We were also at the recent International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine annual meeting in Toronto, Ontario, with several sessions highlighting the potential of hybrid PET/MRI.
In one, Lisa Bodei, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, discussed how she uses PET/MRI to identify patients with neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer, while in another session, Hersh Chandarana, MD, of New York University's Langone Medical Center, said the approach could eventually serve as a "one-stop shop" for imaging cancer.
That's all for now. For more news, be sure to check in regularly in our Molecular Imaging Community!
