Molecular Imaging Insight - June 2008 - (Page 2)

from the editor Editorial Advisory Board NOPR: A Landmark Study Initial Results from National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) have been published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results provide impressive evidence for the substantial impact of PET imaging across all cancers. The concept of NOPR was developed by Bruce E. Hillner, Barry A. Siegel, Anthony F. Shields, and R. Edward Coleman, and was sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI) with its industry and clinical councils and the American College of Radiology (ACR). The activities also were supported by the Society Johannes Czernin, MD of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) and others. NOPR is still active and many cancer patients are still studied as part of this registry. The question asked by NOPR investigators was whether FDG-PET imaging has any impact on managing patients with cancer who are currently not covered for PET imaging by CMS. It should be mentioned, that this first report describes the overall impact of FDG-PET imaging on managing cancer patients and that subsequent manuscripts will detail the impact of PET on managing specific cancers and also its impact on monitoring treatment responses. The Journal of Clinical Oncology study reports findings in more than 20,000 patients. Impact data were stratified by cancer type and specific indication of the study such as diagnosing, staging and restaging. FDG-PET had an impact on management in 30 to 40 percent of patients which is similar to previous investigations in cancers that were covered for reimbursement by CMS. The NOPR report is a landmark study for several reasons: first, it is the first time that a large prospective national registry has been used to establish evidence for the impact of any imaging modality on cancer management. Second, it can serve as a model for many other applications of PET and other imaging modalities to prospectively assess their impact on patient management. Finally, NOPR was designed and is executed with the active participation of CMS, thereby establishing a novel collaborative assessment model of imaging technologies between regulatory agencies and healthcare providers. (More details can be found in the story on page 4.) With their work, the authors have established the evidence that FDG-PET imaging has an enormous impact on managing cancer patients. These data should now be used to request markedly broader CMS coverage for FDG-PET imaging. Michael J. Fulham, MD Director, PET Unit, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and Clinical Associate Professor, University of Sydney, Australia Rodney J. Hicks, MD, FRACP Professor, Department of Medicine, the University of Melbourne, Director, Centre for Molecular Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia Stig A. Larsson, PhD Profressor, and Head of Department of Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden Homer Macapinlac, MD Chair of Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Donald Neumann, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio Randolph Patterson, MD Director, Cardiovascular Imaging, Emory Crawford Long Hospital and Professor of Medicine, The Emory Clinic, Atlanta, Georgia Ron Petrocelli, MD CMO, Siemens Medical Solutions Molecular Imaging division, Hoffman Estates, Ill. Markus Schweiger, MD Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany Nagara Tamaki, MD, PhD Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan David W. Townsend, PhD Professor of Medicine and Radiology, and Director of the Cancer Imaging and Tracer Development Program, The University of Tennessee School of Medicine, Knoxville Johannes Czernin, MD Professor, Molecular & Medical Pharmacology Director, Nuclear Medicine Clinic, Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif. Molecular Imaging Insight | June 2008 MolecularImaging.net http://MolecularImaging.net

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Molecular Imaging Insight - June 2008

Molecular Imaging Insight - June 2008 Contents NOPR: A Landmark Study Cover Story: Evidence-based Medicine Points to Wider Role for Molecular Imaging in Patient Care NOPR Delivers Evidence for Expanded PET Use in Oncology Imaging The Balancing Act Nuclear Cardiology’s Next Step Molecular Imaging Training Gaining Traction SPECT/CT’s Role in Post-Transplant Infection Imaging Clinical Study Digest : Heart Disease & Metastatic Breast, Gastric and Head & Neck Cancer

Molecular Imaging Insight - June 2008

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