Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
Next month, molecular imaging professionals will gather in Toronto for the 2009 SNM annual meeting, where reimbursement, the global isotope supply, physician training, and outcomes research are just a handful of the issues to tackle.
In this edition of the Insider, outgoing SNM President Robert Atcher, Ph.D., and incoming President-elect Dr. Michael Graham, Ph.D., provide their perspectives on the state of molecular imaging and what actions are needed to advance the modality in the wake of fluctuating reimbursement and global medical isotope supplies.
Click here to get a jump on SNM 2009.
In breaking news, users of TechneLite generators from Lantheus Medical Imaging of North Billerica, MA, learned last week about a coming price hike that's being caused by the global molybdenum supply crisis. Learn how it might affect you by clicking here.
In other top stories, read contributing writer Charlene Laino's report from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) conference in Seattle: Mayo Clinic researchers found that whole-body PET detected 20% more cancers not found by other diagnostic tests in patients with suspected paraneoplastic neurological disorders.
From the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) annual meeting in Boston comes a comparison between FDG-PET and arterial spin labeling (ASL) MR perfusion. Study results indicate that the modalities match the gold standard of pathology or long-term clinical follow-up in differentiating tumor necrosis from recurrence in patients with brain tumors. Read more by clicking here.
And finally, read how researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School found better image quality and lower radiation dose in pediatric SPECT renal studies through a data reconstruction technique based on ordered subset expectation maximization with 3D resolution recovery (OSEM-3D).
Be sure to keep in touch with the Molecular Imaging Digital Community in the weeks ahead and follow the events in Toronto at the annual SNM meeting, beginning June 13, on AuntMinnie.com.
