PET Impact Found Consistent Across Cancer Types and Imaging Indications

New data provided by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging were found to affect how clinicians manage their cancer patients' care regardless of the cancer type and reason for ordering this imaging scan, according to results from a U.S. PET registry.

The findings, from the [U.S.] National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR; Philadelphia, PA, USA), was published online November 7, 2008, in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM). Earlier in 2008, the study authors reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) aggregate data contributed to the NOPR during year one of operation that demonstrated clinicians changed the intended care of more than one in three cancer patients as the result of PET scan findings.

After two years of operation, with nearly twice the data for analysis, the researchers found the impact of PET to be noticeably consistent for a wide range of cancers and indications. For this follow up NOPR study, researchers analyzed data for 40,863 PET studies performed at 1,368 facilities participating in the NOPR in the United States during the registry's first two years of operation. The impact of PET was assessed for 18 cancer types in patients with pathologically confirmed cancer and for indication for testing that included initial cancer staging (14,365 scans), restaging (14,584 scans), or detection of suspected cancer recurrence (11,914 scans).

"For the purposes of guiding clinical practice and shaping coverage policy, it is important to determine the relative effects of PET for different cancer types and indications for testing," said Bruce Hillner, M.D., lead author for the study, and professor and eminent scholar in the department of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. "These results strongly indicate the utility of PET for managing cancer patient care across a broad spectrum of cancer types and imaging indications."

The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) is a collaboration of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), the American College of Radiology (ACR; Restin, VA, USA), and the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI; Los Angeles, CA, USA), to ensure access to U.S. Medicare reimbursement for certain types of PET scans.

Related Links:
National Oncologic PET Registry
American College of Radiology
ACR Imaging Network
Academy of Molecular Imaging